


Crystal Crossroads

by Genuka



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bunny Farm Escapee, M/M, Random Updates, Rating May Change, Royalty, Tag Suggestions Wanted, Tags May Change, Warnings May Change, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-30 07:16:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5155073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genuka/pseuds/Genuka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dream, a vision, a reality. New bonds form and old ones break as Harry steps forwards to take up what is rightfully his.</p><div class="center">
  <p>It is time for the <i>Kinshar</i> to awaken!</p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bonds Broken and Reforged

Severus Snape knew he was dreaming yet it was very clearly not a normal dream. The black marble corridor he was traveling down was almost too perfect, the weight of his wand up his sleeve was both comforting and ominous, and the most disturbing of all was that he could feel his mental barriers risen in automatic defense. No, this was no ordinary dream and he very much doubted that whatever was happening would be for his benefit. 

Severus reluctantly continued to follow the pull from his magic down the flawless corridor feeling it get stronger with every step until it practically dragged him into a room. The room was also made of black marble but instead of the traditional four walls it had eight that he could see forming an octagonal room. The only thing standing in the room was something that at a distance resembled a set of three joined standing mirrors. As he approached them he realized that they weren't mirrors at all but three blue tinted clear coffins made of either ice or crystal and they were occupied.

With a start Severus realized that he recognized the occupants, the center one held none other than the bane of his existence Harry James Potter where as the left one held serpent hybrid Dark Lord Voldemort and the one on the right held Dumbledore. He had no idea if they were aware but something about the situation felt distinctly wrong, aside from the obvious. Looking at the three of them he barely noticed when the compulsion dragging him forward disappeared and he was so absorbed in his study of them that he jumped when the musical multitude of voices speaking as one rang out.

"What?" Severus snapped in reflex, once more becoming aware of his barren surroundings.

"Choose," The voices commanded once more, sending an undeniable chill down the potion master's spine.

"What would I be choosing?" Severus asked slowly, ignoring the urge to move forward and try to pull Lily's child from his icy prison.

"CHOOSE!" The voices thundered, sending him to his knees with the sheer volume alone.

Deciding not to ask anymore questions Severus dragged himself to his feet only to stagger forwards and purposefully touch the center coffin. His right hand sank into it to the wrist as he once more fell to his knees. The vice like grip the weird crystal ice gel had on him had hardened around his hand and wrist like steel. The moment his knees once more touched the floor there was a flash as a flexible metal band encased his wrist with a circuitry pattern briefly running along his skin under his clothes before fading into nothing.

The gel began to quickly drain away as Harry's eyes shot open barely a moment before his mouth and nose were free allowing him to gasp in a lungful of fresh air even as he toppled onto Snape's prone form. In the moments it took for Harry to process the information that had been given to him Severus had managed to shift so that he was cradling the Golden Boy. Severus quickly checked him over both visually and magically, knowing better than to physically run his hands up and down the body in a check for injuries. Knowing that the potions master wasn't a threat Harry lay in his arms sorting through the new knowledge as dispassionately as he could manage.

Harry knew that both Voldemort and Dumbledore were aware, as he had been, while still trapped by the frozen crystal gel. He also knew that Snape was bound to him, first by his vow to Dumbledore in Lily's memory and later by his own actions in upholding that vow. What Snape had just done broke any other bonds he might have had, binding him solely to Harry James Potter. In fact Harry could feel the magic of the Dark Mark crumble to dust as he lay in the potion master's arms, the metal band proudly etching his ownership of the man holding him deep into the metal.

"Choose," A single feminine voice practically purred into Harry's ear, more than loud enough for Snape to hear and snap back.

"I did choose! Now what the bloody hell is going on?!" Severus snapped back with a snarl on his lips.

Harry ignored both the command and Severus' obvious unease to finish going through the information that had been gifted to him as the first to be released. Tiredly he pulled himself carefully out of the potion master's grip to stand before the two lords of magic still encased in their crystal gel coffins. He first looked into Dumbledore's eyes and the raw fury he found their caused him to recoil, stumbling backwards so that Snape had to catch him. The hands that caught him were both slightly rough and amazingly gentle as Severus helped him to shakily stand tall before going and looking in Voldemort's eyes.

The heart-rending resignation he saw there made him want to reach out and comfort the older wizard. In that instant he knew who he would bind to him and who he would eventually have to kill or imprison. A brush of his hand against the surface was all it took to free Voldemort, allowing the Dark Lord to collapse to his knees in front of the child he had desperately been trying to kill since age one. Dumbledore's obvious fury redoubled as he saw his chance at freedom in this strange place snatched away from him. Instead the old man was launched from his coffin in a trail of smoke upwards to vanish through the dark ceiling into an azure sky leaving the trio of dark haired wizards behind.

"I don't understand," Voldemort rasped with a slight cough, not yet being used to once more breathing.

"Snape chose me as his true master, binding him to me fully and granting me more information on this entire mess that you all call a war that I never wanted anything to do with. When I picked... I had to choose which one of you would be bound to me and which one I would have to eventually kill or at least imprison. To refuse to choose would have caused something very, very bad to happen, though I'm not sure what. I also only had the two options when freeing either of you no matter how much all of us might have preferred a third," Harry explained softly, looking at both older wizards wearily. "One of the good things that came out of binding you to me is that you've got your sanity back along with most of your soul. Once we've sorted out the mess of the war if either of you still want to kill me I'll let you."

"Why would you say a thing like that!?" Severus demanded in shock as the two older wizards carefully got to their feet.

"Because its true, after all I'm nothing but a freak and a weapon," Harry said bitterly, a wry smile twisting his features as the bitterness in his eyes turned it into a mockery. "I wonder what will happen when we wake up?"

"When we wake up you will be coming to me and you will have a full medical exam," Voldemort said tightly, flashing back to how he had almost fallen into that same seductive trap growing up along with the abuse that had created fertile ground for such thoughts.

"Coming to you? Yeah, right. I'll be lucky if I had enough rest to do much of anything much less escape whatever contingencies that Dumbledore set up to keep me trapped at Hogwarts until its time for our yearly confrontation," Harry said with a derisive snort remembering how other visions and nightmares would constantly rob him of what little sleep he managed. He was under no illusions that his body was getting any sleep while they were in this strange dream world.

"If we are bound to you then you are bound to us," Severus argued, taking a chance on twigging Harry's savior complex if only to get the three of them alone to talk about this... nightmare. "Letting you get killed or remain injured would be counter productive and hazardous to our own health. Until we can determine that the binding does or does not transfer to the waking world we have to be careful. If it in fact _does_ transfer then we must establish what type of bond is in place and if harm to one of us will harm the others, in which case we can't kill you because it would likely also kill _us_."

Harry hesitated a moment but reluctantly nodded his acceptance of the point and started looking around to see what he could find. They exchanged a worried glance before quickly following the Gryffindor, not yet willing to take a chance that this dream was nothing to worry about.

"Mr. Potter," Severus began only to be silenced by an annoyed look from Harry that was practically brimming with power.

"My name is Harry, not boy, not freak, not Potter, just Harry," Harry said quietly, deciding to at least try for civility before putting up with the normal threats and harangues that came from the other two.

"Who called you freak?" Severus demanded, his tone deadly. He was not expecting the bitter laugh and shake of Harry's head as the smaller wizard completely ignored the question to continue his exploration of the mostly barren room.

"This isn't like you. You're fire and cheek, unafraid of anything, not a bitter old man," Voldemort said with a frown only for Harry to whip around and snarl at him.

"What would you know about me? None of you have _ever_ tried to learn anything about me, I'm just the Boy-Who-bloody-well-Lived! Do I constantly try and kill or torture you? No!" Harry snarled at him before turning his anger and frustration on Snape. "I never knew my father or my mother, how could I be anything like them when I was told they were drunken louts who got themselves killed in a car crash until Hagrid kidnapped me from the Dursleys for my first school shopping? I'm sorry about what they did to you in school but I am not them! And for your information I wander at night because I'm used to more activity with less food and sleep than what the school has us doing!"

They stood there speechless as Harry stalked off into the corridor more worried than before but also more than aware they had clearly misjudged him. Hurrying to catch up they found him less than twenty feet down the blank black marble corridor that Severus had walked down to get to the coffin room. They continued walking together in silence, Harry moodily in the lead for a good half an hour.

Abruptly the corridor disappeared leaving them in a meadow facing a statue of a Grim standing over a sleeping stag an oversized lily lying against his side with a wolf peeking playfully around the grinning giant mythical dog. The statue was done up in an alabaster stone that looked to be white marble with such care and character that it immediately brought Harry to his knees in the grass, tears slipping silently down his face. Something broke inside him as he finally mourned for his lost future and the family he would have had. He instinctively knew that the only reason Remus was alive was because Harry wasn't old enough to choose to leave a pack and was thus still a cub in the eyes of the wolf for all that he was kept away from Harry.

Harry knew that if the old wolf had indeed had a choice he would have been living with him and not the abusive muggles that Dumbledore called his family or Moony would have joined his pack in death. Harry had gone out of his way time and again not to be discovered as weak, to be seen as the abuse victim he was. He had only broken down and told someone a few times and each time he had been in a worse position because of it. Harry barely felt it as two of his most adamant enemies, now bound to him, settled to either side and wrapped him in their arms as they tried to offer what comfort they could. The feeling of their caring touch carried him into wakefulness as they returned from whatever realm they had inhabited in the night.

Severus woke with a start as he felt Potter slip from his arms, his hand automatically going for his wand under his pillow only for the metal band around his right wrist to smack the headboard with a solid thunk. Dreading what he was going to see the potions master withdrew his hand from under his pillow to stare at the band around his wrist, proclaiming him to be the property of Harry James Potter. Cursing he scrambled into his clothes and ignoring the fact that it was three in the morning he bolted from his rooms in search of a troublesome Gryffindor.

Severus found the troublesome brat staring sightlessly into the canopy of his bed, ignoring the other sleeping boys the potions master gently picked him up and carried him down to the common room. Settling in one of the overstuffed chairs near the fire he cradled the youth as he occasionally ran his fingers through the messy hair. Less than twenty minutes later McGonagall, alerted by a special monitoring spell aimed at the other staff members, joined them.

"What happened?" Minerva asked after a few minutes of silence.

"A dream, a vision that proved to be all to real," Severus said quietly, really starting to worry at Harry's lack of response. "We were both there, as was Albus and the Dark Lord. I was instructed to choose which of the three to free, choosing Potter had me bound to him as property. He was then forced to choose between the other two. I don't know what he saw when he looked into their eyes but whatever it was had him choosing to free the Dark Lord as Albus was forcibly ejected from the location. When the Dark Lord asked for clarification Potter explained that we were both bound to him now and that he would eventually be forced to kill or imprison Albus since he was not chosen. What shook him, no, what _broke_ him was the statue dedicated to his parents, the mutt, and Lupin. It was as if he had never allowed himself to mourn them and that he knew Lupin was as good as dead with the death of the mutt, his body only alive because he sees Potter as his cub. I don't know how but I knew when I woke I had to get to him. He was unresponsive when I arrived and pulled him from his bed."

"Nay! Oh, the poor bairn. He shouldna have to put up with any of this. Tis to much even for us an' Albus expects too much of him," McGonagall said in fretful dismay. Then an idea came to her and she looked the dark man straight in the eye. "If I asked it of ye would ye brew me a blood adoption potion? If naught else I can at least keep him from being sent back to those beastly muggles."

"Explain," Severus ordered in a hard voice.

"As you know Albus sent him to live with Petunia..." Minerva began only to be interrupted by a snarled oath from her colleague as he clutched his too thin burden closer in his lap, feeling Harry flinch from the mention of his relatives.

"He _knows_ that woman hates magic and all it stands for! She made Lily's life a living hell any time she went home," Severus spat, drawing a quiet whimper out of Harry that was quickly soothed away with more petting. "What was the old man thinking?"

"I watched before he placed Harry and made my own protests known. When I tried to go back and get him I found that the wards had been set to keep me out along with anyone else with even a trace of magic strong enough to be of any use. Which is probably why Arabella was set to watching him with her squib core barely being enough to see the magical creatures naturally hidden from muggles. The first time I saw him after he was left with them was at his sorting," Minerva admitted. "I had tricked myself into believing that he had managed to have a decent childhood, especially when Albus kept telling us that he was fine and perfectly happy, spoilt even. Things didn't add up once he was here but, as you know, Albus had used the fact that he took magical guardianship to absolutely control everything that he might even be remotely introduced to or told. I tried to discourage them about going after the stone in their first year but that backfired rather spectacularly. After that I don't believe he ever truly trusted me again, not the way he has unconsciously trusted you since almost the first despite your treatment of him."

"I wasn't given much of a choice how I would treat him," Severus pointed out softly. "He would have been my son if I hadn't alienated Lily at the end of our fifth year."

"No, he wouldn't have," Minerva said gently. "He would have been your nephew or godson but not your son. You loved Lily but you weren't _in love_ with her. Stop lying to me lad, I ken you fancy your own and that you've been celibate since before Lily's death. Albus may be blind or willfully ignorant but I am not for all my mistakes with the lad in your lap."

"You know that potion is considered illegal unless used by Gringotts," Severus pointed out, changing tactics and still running his fingers through Harry's sable locks.

"Aye, and I ken that you brew it for them from time to time. As long as the Goblins get their gold they dunna care," Minerva pointed out smugly.  
"Its high time I do what I shoulda done the night Lily and James died."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that Minerva," Dumbledore said regretfully with a look of great disappointment as he stepped from the shadows where he had been listening, wand raised.

"You wouldna dare!" Minerva said in complete shock as she quickly stood, wand drawn, between the Headmaster and two wizards she cared for deeply.

Severus didn't bother to wait to find out what happened, he bolted up into the boys dormitory with Harry still in his arms. Tripping one of the defensive measures of the castle the stairs to both dormitories rose up to block any access to the common room. This set off an alarm that woke the entire castle in the process while alerting the staff of the location of the trouble. Not bothering to give Harry's sleepy dorm mates a glance he hurried over to Harry's bed and used the Pack spell to gather his things, snatching the broom when it went to pack its self. Quickly shrinking the trunk down he pocketed it only to come face to wand with every one of Harry's dorm mates.

"Move," Severus growled, moving Harry from the bridal carry into a fireman's carry and wondering if he would need to draw his wand on his former students.

"Tell us what you're doing with Harry and his things and we just might," Ron said in an deadly tone that the potions master had never heard from him before, his wand never wavering.

"I don't have time for this," Severus said in a frustrated growl.

"Then make time," Seamus ordered boldly just before an explosion rocked the room, obviously coming from the common room.

"Dumbledore has been screwing with Potter and doing his damnedest to control him since the death of his parents. Earlier this evening we found ourselves in a joint dream or vision, to summarize I am now bound to him as his property and he will eventually have to kill or imprison Dumbledore. There were two others in the dream Dumbledore and the Dark Lord. Both are mostly aware of what transpired and the fact that the Dark Lord is also now bound to Potter. If Dumbledore can kill Potter in just the right fashion he can take control of the bond and use us to enslave the rest of the wizarding world. Any objection to me getting him _away_ from the Headmaster?" Severus snapped at them impatiently. They took a moment to process what they had been told, the stones still occasionally shaking from the spell fire in the common room, before springing into action.

"Neville you need to stay behind and play the role of replacement savior, Dean, Seamus, you're on bodyguard duty until I get back. I'll fly alongside the professor to make it look like Harry came to. Harry will be disillusioned or wrapped in his invisibility cloak while we fly. We are running with _Bolt Betrayed_ people and Dumbledore is the lightning rod. As of now Professor Snape is in the clear. We'll address the mess of the Dark Lord later so treat him and his people as neutrals," Ron snapped out grimly as he summoned his emergency broom that Harry via Sirius had gotten for all of the DA and one handed manipulated the DA galleon sending out the warning across the school.

Severus was dumbfounded by the sudden very professional activity as everyone packed up their things using the Pack spell while getting quickly dressed, wands and brooms never far away. He could see people taking to the air through the windows of the tower and hovering nearby to catch anyone who had trouble making him wonder what exactly the DA had been up to since its conception.

"Sir? Are we going to have to evacuate or just get Harry out?" Ron asked with a calm seriousness that unnerved the potions master.

"I have no idea but Minerva, Professor McGonagall is dueling him in your common room right now," Severus admitted, doing his best to hide how unsettled he'd become.

"Fuck! Right, people we've moved from _Bolt Betrayed_ to _Side Three_ , you leave with the evacuation don't plan on coming back until at least some of this shite is sorted," Ron called out manipulating the coin once more before tossing the window open and sending Severus out the window on Harry's Firebolt with Harry in plain view.

Severus quickly leveled off and disillusioned his now lightly twitching burden as the other boys followed his dive out of the window. Now that he was airborne he could see a virtual fleet of brooms that were obviously flown by Gryffindors and Ravenclaws forming up around him and Ronald who stayed close by his side. Presumably the Hufflepuff members had another way out of the castle as the entirety of Dumbledore's Army raced for the edge of the wards. Most of the flyers split into two alternate formations with a seventh year taking the center to pretend to be Snape before peeling off in a different direction at the edge of the wards.

They were gone as if they had never been by the time Albus got through to the dorms ten minutes later. Leaving behind very few Gryffindors to see their unconscious Head of House being levitated to the Hospital wing by a silently furious Headmaster. The disappearance of so many students had them all questioning the two remaining members who refused to follow the plan, Zachariah Smith and Michael Corner.

The moment the group of flyers set down in a field outside the wards to access their portkeys they were surrounded by a group of Death Eaters apparating in with cracks like gunfire, Voldemort at their head. The two groups faced each other wands raised, not a sound or move to give away what they might be thinking as they faced off. Voldemort looked over them all only for his gaze to settle on Severus who met his gaze and slowly lifted his right hand to rest on where Potter lay still slung over his shoulder. Voldemort's eye's sharpened on the wrist band and nodded his understanding at seeing Severus' hand resting against nothing.

"Wands away," Voldemort ordered with the Death Eaters quickly obeying as he stepped towards Severus and Harry only to be silently blocked as various people stepped in between them.

"He was unresponsive when we left whatever that dream was and has only just started to move or make noise as we fled the school. I got to him as quickly as possible. Dumbledore decide to make a drastic move as I tended to him and explained to Minerva. She held him off long enough for us and most of his pet Army to get away. I have no idea where the rally point is," Severus told him as he pushed his way through the overly protective students, dropping the disillusionment charm as he went.

A signal from Ron stopped the DA members from interfering as Harry was gently laid on the turf with Severus and Voldemort kneeling to either side and sending various magical scans over him, trying to find what was wrong. Voldemort cursed quietly at what they found as Severus grimly pulled his emergency healing potions from his robes before coaxing Harry into drinking them as he finally started to respond.

"I didn't realize... I thought it was the shock of seeing that statue," Severus said hissing in sympathy at the damage they were finding.

"Most of these injuries are to old to have occurred at Hogwarts. What is wrong with the staff? Do they not watch him with how often I have come after him? He's been at the school less than a month, this should have been noticed immediately," Voldemort complained as he vanished Harry's pajama top and dispelled the glamours they had detected. The sight of so many scars had them both staring in shock before their professionalism took over and they continued to work on healing Harry.

"I'm going to kill Petunia and her family," Severus said in a fury. "If I'd known where Albus had placed him before tonight I would have taken him myself and probably killed them for touching him."

"Harry doesn't just wear glamours, there's something like a notice-me-not on his injuries as well," Ron explained reluctantly. "Hermione and I found out by accident and we resorted to simply watching how he moved to get around it. He's been taught not to ask for help by someone I would dearly love to curse. I don't know how you're getting around it but I'm fighting to keep looking at him with his shirt off and glamours down."

"Must be the bond that formed earlier. Blasted thing practically dragged me to his side when I woke," Severus muttered, never looking up from tending to Harry.

"I knew something was wrong but I was uncertain how to get to him," Voldemort admitted, gently holding a slightly stirring Harry in a half seated position to take the next potion. The taste had him coughing and coming fully back to the rest of the world as he sat up all the way, making a face at the flavor of sulfur aka rotten eggs, unwashed gym socks, and copper.

"Yuck! Please tell me I don't have to take another one that tastes like that?" Harry said to no one in particular.

"No, that was the last aside from the nutrition potions you will be taking until I say otherwise," Severus responded smoothly as he returned the unused potions to their hiding places among his robes.

"Why are we in a field? And why is no one getting cursed?" Harry asked suspiciously as he finally took in his surroundings.

"The bond transferred into reality when we three woke, you reacted badly and Dumbledore tried something while you were unresponsive," Voldemort informed him as he smoothly returned to his feet only to help Harry up.

"Harry? We had to initiate _Bolt Betrayed_ and _Side Three_. On my authority I declared Snape as clear and the Death Munchers to be considered neutrals until we could sort out whatever happened in that dream of yours. Once everyone was clear of the castle and her wards they should have played back the recording from my end. Ginny and Hermione went with group two and Mum is probably worried sick since we designated the Burrow as the current rally point. I'm hoping that my brothers have the sense to trigger one of the playbacks for Mum and Dad since they will probably want to call Dumbledore to come get everyone," Ron reported quickly. "I don't know what happened from your end but since we were moving against the normal teachers rather than Aurors or Death Munchers everyone should have gotten out."

"Meaning only the ones who would have deserted any way stayed behind and we'll need to switch out the coins. Not that we wouldn't have had to do that any way," Harry said with a mutter before turning his attention to Voldemort. "How exactly are your people bound to you and will it be affected by whatever bond we have now?"

"The bonding that comes with the mark is both similar and different to the bond between a Liege Lord/Vassal as well as the manifestation of a Master/Slave bond. The original enchantment was developed by Salazar Slytherin and I adapted it to suit my purpose. As long as we don't know what bond you and I share I don't know how it will affect the bond I have with those I have marked. As far as the law is concerned, if upheld honestly, I am the only one responsible for them and their punishment everything that is theirs is also mine, including their magic, thus making any form of punishment or imprisonment by the Ministry illegal," Voldemort answered with a grimace. "I fully admit that I am a possessive bastard and was more than a little arrogant when I conceived of changing things with a group of loyal followers at my beck and call."

"Lovely," Harry said sarcastically as he mentally ran through what options they had. "If you're coming with us to the Burrow you'll need to use a glamour to look like someone else especially since Ginny will recognize the face of a younger you in the same way that I would. We're probably going to have some explaining to do no matter what but there's no need to cause a panic when we arrive. I still can't believe we actually needed those contingency plans Ron and Hermione insisted on."

"Mate, if we hadn't had them I don't know what would have happened. Just be glad Hermione added extra features to the DA galleons," Ron said gravely. Harry grimaced but nodded his agreement.

"Professor? Coming or going?" Harry asked softly only to receive an indignant scowl in return. Harry nodded in understanding and turned to quirk an eyebrow at Voldemort with the same question in his eyes.

"We still have to discover what this bond is," Voldemort pointed out as he silently changed his glamours from the snake hybrid to a redhead with blue eyes and a rounder face than his younger self. Less than a minute later the field was empty aside from the fading cracks of apparation and the bent grass from where people had been standing when the portkeys triggered.


	2. Pit Stop

Harry's group was met with a mixture of joy and trepidation, for no one had expected him to arrive with the snarky potions master and an unknown. It wasn't long before those who had been with Ron's group spread the word that Harry James Potter had some how _bound_ not only Professor Snape but the Dark Lord as well and that the second man was he. Snape's scowling kept him unapproachable and not a single member of the DA dared bother He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for _anything_. As they passed through the assembled Army members spilling out and around the Burrow the murmur of conversation quieted. Someone even had the bright idea to form up into groups and lines, as if they were ragged companies of soldiers trying for a presentable formation in front of a superior officer as Harry passed.

"They truly respect you," Severus murmured in Harry's ear, who tilted his head slightly in rueful acknowledgement as they finally entered the Burrow's front door. They were met by the slightly unusual sight of the Weasley twins exasperatedly standing guard over the trussed up and gagged forms of their parents, who had been carefully placed sitting upright on the couch in the living room.

"Well, now I know why Mrs. Weasley wasn't bustling about outside making sure everyone was okay," Harry said in deep amusement. "I take it they either didn't accept what you had to tell them or they tried to contact the Order?"

"Both," Fred admitted with a scowl. "We had to hit them with stunners and they wouldn't bloody well _listen_."

"So, Harrykins, are you going to tell the rest of us what happened for Ron to call _Bolt Betrayed_ and _Side Three_? Especially so close together?" George asked in a half teasing, half serious voice.

"The usual weirdness that is my life," Harry said with a grimace. "I'll cover it once we've got everyone moved to somewhere safer, if your parents weren't even willing to hear you out we can't let them come with us. Professor Snape, Voldemort, and the older Army members will have to suffice for adult supervision until we can figure out the bond that formed earlier while we were dreaming. At least, it put his mind back together even if it did send Dumbledore after us while I was still out of it."

"The contingency plans proved their worth tonight," Ron reminded half teasingly and half ironically, as everyone had known that Harry had to be convinced to make them and set up a semi-solid command structure in the first place.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were right," Harry said in obvious disgruntlement.

"Oi, leave off little brother," Fred protested only for George to continue for him. "You know he has a hard enough time keeping his own hide intact to be worrying about everyone else all on his lonesome."

"We know," Hermione said wryly as she came out of the kitchen with Ginny close behind her. "Harry, I altered the Weasley family clock and added the two of us so that they don't worry too much when we go. They can't use it to track us any more aside from the basic function of the clock, but it will still do what its supposed to do. I think the best bet is to go to Gringotts from here and either find an unused property that someone in the Army owns or that we can buy as a group. I still haven't found a way to remove the trace, but I bet if we ask the goblins when we talk to them they'll either remove it or tell us how to get unregistered wands, for a fee. Sir, who did you leave in charge of the Death Eaters, and will we have to worry about someone deciding to move on their own?"

"Lucius Malfoy and no, we shouldn't need to worry about that now that I'm sane," Voldemort said ironically, wondering why he had even bothered with changing his glamour. He hadn't realized that the glamour specifically focused around his eyes had slipped for a moment as she came into the room.

It had been a bit of a shock to wake up, and realize his appearance had been returned along with his sanity. Voldemort could very clearly feel the bond with Potter, but hadn't had a chance to locate the bond mark before everything went tits up. Though the fact that Severus had received a metal bracelet for his mark made him wonder if the brat had somehow made it a two-way mutual bond, or if their past interactions had changed how the bond had formed. Until they investigated the bonds none of them would know and they couldn't do that until they were safe with time to actually think and experiment.

"Will we be accompanying you, or should we discuss a time and place to meet?" Severus asked with interest, bringing Voldemort's attention back to the bizarre situation they all found themselves in. "Despite your earlier assumption I do not think that your... army members would want us to accompany you."

"If we have to I can always get Hermione to help me learn and cast the Fidelus charm on wherever we set up after the two of you have gone your own way. However, with my luck this bond will not only be permanent, but we'll have to do something else to appease it, like have sex or exchange blood or something equally powerful," Harry pointed out tiredly, only for what he had said to hit him a moment later triggering a string of curses from him.

"Mate, did you just jinx yourself? _Again_?" Ron asked in fond exasperation.

"Fate hates me," Harry deadpanned before he half collapsed only to be caught by Severus and held up between him and Voldemort.

"Decide what is happening and where we are going quickly. I need to examine you properly and the bond is starting to get uncomfortably concerned about your health, _again_ ," Severus ordered tersely, causing Ron and Hermione to exchange resigned looks.

"Well, that settles whether they're coming with us or not. So, do we obliviate Mum and Dad or just leave them as is, and do we use the floo to head for Gringotts or try for some other way to get there? It's not like no one will notice more than fifty Hogwarts students suddenly showing up in Diagon Alley heading for Gringotts," Ron asked pointedly. "Most of us are underage, and everyone will need the trace removed so that they can't simply use the spell residue to track us whether we're legal or not. Then there's the fact that a lot of us don't have that much cash."

"I know, I know, I know. We're probably going to empty my vault for this and then we'll have to figure out how to fund the rest of our little escape. We're going to be using a lot of magic to get the basics sorted and I might even have to resort to using my fame to get us _something_ to work with. If we have to I can put something in the paper or offer Rita an interview," Harry said with a grimace, completely ignoring the fact that he was still hanging from the arms of the two wizards bound to him through some strange and unknown magics.

"Don't you have access to the rest of the Potter vaults? Or the ones that were willed to you as the Boy-Who-Lived?" Severus asked in confusion, immediately silencing the discussion.

" _Vaults_ as in more than one? Harry mate, I thought you said you only had the one," Ron said bewildered, as Harry spluttered in a combination of shock and confusion.

"I did! I do! I've just got the one," Harry protested, trying very hard not to finish collapsing to the floor despite the support of Voldemort and Severus holding him up.

"The Potters were insanely wealthy, you should easily have more than one even without accepting anything from your admirers," Voldemort pointed out with a frown. "In fact their wealth and open support of Dumbledore is one of the reasons why both I and Grindelwald targeted the Potter family. I wonder why Dumbledore kept the information from you or did the Potters actually spend nearly all their fortune on the war?"

"Then the first thing we do is get everyone checked for any unclaimed inheritances, spells, and potions. We don't want another mess like whenever the Twins start pulling their pranks using compulsion spells and love potions without at least knowing its there so that we can counter it later," Hermione said decidedly. "If Professor Snape is coming with us we wont need to kidnap and oath-bind a healer to check everyone over. As a potions master he is only a step away from being a full Healer, the difference being the final oaths that a healer must make. With the Dark Lord along, provided he's actually coming with us, we don't have to worry as much about being raided, kidnapped, tortured, or killed by the Dark faction, though the obvious threat from Dumbledore becomes slightly magnified. As usual, Harry is a key piece for any of the factions and probably counts as a king on the equivalent chessboard. The question is, how can we manage to keep him safe? Every piece on a chessboard works on behalf of the king and Harry either just became a third king, or replaced the Dark Lord as the black king on the board."

"Is it agreed that we are going to Gringotts?" Severus asked tersely, receiving a hesitant nod in return from his former students. "Then we should be on our way before Potter no longer has the strength to actually get there and Dumbledore actually checks on the Weasleys after dealing with Professor McGonagall. She's probably in the hospital wing by now if he wasn't forced into killing her during their duel."

A quick look at Harry and the time had them all agreeing before everyone was quickly ordered through the floo, youngest first in case they ran out of floo powder. The Weasleys had just enough, barely, to get everyone to the Leaky Cauldron and beyond to Gringotts in Diagon Alley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still need pairing suggestions. Bare in mind that to me Harry is too mentally mature and to traumatized by the Dursleys to settle down with anyone he ever attended Hogwarts with though if there's enough of a vote for it I might make the attempt any way.
> 
> Any Ideas welcome!


	3. Goblin Respect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must have done something right in _Blood Bound_ for so many of you to ask for not only the same pairing but at least two of you asking for the same inner dynamic of the threesome. Well you've gotten your pairing wish. I'll try to remember to fix the tags when I post this. *amused*  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Severus finished flooing into Gringotts, he was very glad that he and Voldemort had insisted on flooing alongside Harry. The troublesome brat was barely conscious when they tumbled out of the Leaky Cauldron's fireplace with Harry's dead weight throwing off their landing. A quick glance showed that Harry's closest friends had waited for them while sending the rest of the DA ahead to the bank. The barest meeting of eyes between the two bound wizards on the other hand, showed that they were both concerned about the green-eyed imp dangling limply between them.

Getting past Tom the bartender with a barely conscious Harry Potter in their arms was... interesting. Thankfully at that time of night Diagon was deserted, and Gringotts was open at all hours to cater to clients with particular sleeping patterns and sun allergies. This meant they didn't have to wade through a veritable sea of people just to get to the marble steps of the goblins' domain. A quick thought had Voldemort's glamours dropping completely as they walked into the lobby of Gringotts, revealing a twenty-something looking Tom Riddle with red eyes and earning him startled looks from those in the lobby.

The moment they were through the bank doors into the lobby, where the rest of the DA was waiting, Severus started tossing diagnostic spells at Harry. He was relieved to discover that Harry was just exhausted and apparently hadn't been eating enough for the last several days. A Pepperup poured down Harry's throat had him groggily looking around as the steam left his ears, before he forced himself to stand on his own two feet. He quickly moved forwards, once his feet were under him, to greet a small group of watching goblins, since they seemed to be of higher rank than the tellers.

"Hail warrior, I would ask for a meeting of my group with a goblin representative to discuss business that should be profitable for the goblin nation," Harry greeted, standing tiredly in front of the trio of goblins flanked by Ron, Hermione, Severus, and Voldemort with the DA forming up behind him. In that moment the shocked looks they gave him and the DA were hilarious but he knew this wasn't the time nor the place for such a reaction so he did his best to stifle it.

"This is a group matter?" the goblin with a small, barely noticeable, yellow tattoo under his right eye asked gravely. The goblin had taken a step forward in a clear indication of being the momentary representative, and thus, likely, the most high ranking of the small group if not the entire lobby.

"It is," Harry said gravely. "The business that must be conducted may also bring information to light that would greatly concern the goblin nation."

"Come," the tattooed goblin commanded with a sharp nod of acceptance at Harry's minimal assessment of the situation. 

The goblin quickly lead them through one of the doors near the back of the room, deeper into the bank. Within ten minutes they were led into a room that was at first small, but expanded as the DA piled into the room, with a table and various types of seating appearing as needed. Only Harry, Severus, Voldemort, Ron, and Hermione took seats at the table across from the goblin trio, as everyone else found somewhere to sit, but still be able to observe the bargaining. The magic of the room sensed and easily adjusted everything as needed.

"Before we begin what ailed you upon your arrival?" the lead goblin asked bluntly.

"Exhaustion," Harry admitted equally bluntly, having already known what was generally wrong before Severus had scanned him. "And stress, I have been unable to rest easily for nearly three months, and the magic that occurred earlier tonight drained me further. My own condition should not bar us from conducting business. I trust the goblin nation to be honest in its dealings."

"Dangerous words among your own kind," the goblin said carefully as his companions tensed.

"Gringotts has, to my knowledge, always dealt fairly with me. I was recently informed that I likely have far greater resources than I had been led to believe and wish to correct the _oversight_. Upon the discovery of the oversight and in retrospect I believe I have information that has been denied the goblin nation in an attempt to control me. As a token of my esteem I offer it freely and without malice of any kind," Harry informed them, walking a knife's edge between respect for them as warriors and the diplomacy that it would take to safely navigate through this meeting.

"What information?" the left-hand goblin asked, plainly curious.

"Information on the attempted theft of the magical artifact, removed from the Flamel vault in 1991," Harry told them wryly. The shocked looks of the goblins that quickly darkened into fury spurred his recitation of the facts as he quickly continued. "To my knowledge it was Quirinus Quirrell who broke into the bank in an attempt to steal the artifact, which Dumbledore moved to Hogwarts as part of a trap for the Dark Lord. Thinking back I would not be surprised if the protections and such was also a test for myself and to ensure that I once more faced the Dark Lord. To summarize the end result of the confrontation and discovery of his final attempt to steal the artifact, he died from a combination of some magic contained in my skin and the violent ending of a possession, which also destroyed the artifact. I do not know for certain if he was acting alone or at the behest of another or whether he was physically alone during the attempted robbery. I have suspicions but no proof and recently discovered information also brings past suspicions into possible doubt preventing me from voicing my suspicions. I also swear to you on my life and magic that I have never to my current knowledge granted access to any accounts, known or otherwise, I may own or otherwise have access to, to another except for the scattering of times I have used owl order and when I personally withdrew money for school."

There was a stunned silence as the goblins waited for him to drop dead from his oath only to grunt in respect as he stared at them from serious, moss-green eyes, doing his best not to fall asleep in his seat. The outraged shouts from the DA members brought him back to full wakefulness in a surge of adrenaline. Thankfully a short burst of gobbledegook as the three goblins discussed what had been revealed to them quickly calmed the rest of the room.

"Idiot," Voldemort hissed into Harry's ear, more than a little disturbed at the risk that the Gryffindor had taken with that oath.

"You have no idea what you just risked," Severus added in his own hiss of displeasure. Harry just shrugged and ignored the obvious concern, not seeing what the big deal was.

"Our records show that you are the current holder of what wizards call the Sword of Gryffindor, where is the stolen, goblin-forged blade now?" the youngest goblin demanded only to be shouted at in gobbledegook by the other two as Harry sat in stunned silence.

"Dumbledore confiscated it from me after I pulled it from the sorting hat and used it to slay the very large Basilisk in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. I apologize for not being able to return it to goblin hands if it truly was stolen from your people," Harry admitted, finally pulling himself together and managing to stun the entire room into a properly shocked silence. Ron broke down laughing a moment later as Hermione lightly banged her forehead against the table.

"Only you Harry," the twins chorused as they to broke down into laughter.

"Hey! At least, you didn't get bitten by the bloody giant snake before having to sit on the cold stone floor while a phoenix cried onto the wound. I was twelve and they were both huge! I could only dodge the snake for so long. Nope, you got stuck on the wrong side of a cave-in instead," Harry retorted, scowling playfully until he noticed that his response had once more silenced the room.

"May we see the wound warrior?" the lead goblin asked respectfully, changing tactics completely. Harry shrugged in confusion, before rolling up his sleeve to reveal the scar where the fang had gone through his arm, and showed it to them.

"You are getting a complete medical exam once we are finally hidden away somewhere safe," Severus ordered sternly. "That said, don't ever donate your blood to help someone else. The venom and tears are both still in your blood, enhancing each other and keeping its opposite from killing you. I am honestly surprised that the magic either hasn't started changing you or killed you."

"What are we going to do with you?" Hermione asked in exasperated amusement. "I know for a fact that there is no documented case of someone surviving like this."

"Incorrect, the only documented case died shortly thereafter because he could not adapt to the needed magic and barely two-long preserved tears were used. From the sound of it he received it directly from Fawkes, with a quantity larger than two drops," Severus lectured, as Harry nodded his agreement at the man's conclusion. "Storage time, collection method, source, and application all play a part in the results."

"All I know is that I couldn't move, everything was going grey and Fawkes cried directly onto the wound. I felt at least five drips, possibly six." Harry told them truthfully.

"Enough Phoenix tears to create over three hundred vials of a powerful generalized healing potion going directly into your blood at the point of injection of the Basilisk venom," Severus said grimly. "It truly is a wonder you didn't die from the direct application of such powerful ingredients to your blood, and that Fawkes managed to balance the dose so perfectly that you noticed nothing more than a general return to health."

"The venom and tears in your blood combined with Wormtail's ineptitude explains my previous appearance," Voldemort concluded with a grimace.

"Warrior, a sample of your blood, a copy of your memories regarding the situation and battle against the king of serpents, and all of your business this night will be taken care of at the bank's expense, barring certain services and transactions," the tattooed goblin told him gravely, deciding to go out on a limb and greatly enjoying the spluttering sounds that his offer elicited from Voldemort and Severus.

"You don't have to bargain for a copy of my memories, I grant them freely," Harry said with a frown, quickly using his wand to withdraw copies of the relevant memories and place them in a vial silently donated by Severus before handing them over. "I know that you are proud warriors, I just didn't think you'd be interested in the fumbling of a wizarding child trying to stay alive or that sharing memories was even possible until my fourth year."

"Oh? And how did you discover it?" Severus asked curiously, deciding he should get at least a few answers for giving up one of his spare potions vials to put the memories in.

"Fell into Dumbledore's pensieve," Harry admitted sheepishly. "No idea if he set me up for that since there was a memory of Kakaroff's trial just sitting in the bloody thing, bit convenient that but he was at Hogwarts as the Headmaster of Durmstrang so it could have been nothing."

"I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't just make an offer of peace bound by marriage," Voldemort muttered under his breath.

"Traditionally that might work but since you are both the Head of your families you would be bargaining with Harry and getting everyone else to recognize it might be a tad difficult," Hermione pointed out in amusement. "You also have to figure out what happened earlier and if it will have any affect on the needed bonding magic for such a peace treaty."

"What? Hermione?" Harry asked uncertainly, turning towards her in an attempt at figuring out what she was talking about.

"Oh nothing, he was just muttering about marrying you so he doesn't have to fight you," Hermione said flippantly with an unrepentant grin. Harry gave her an unimpressed look, not taking her seriously he turned back to the goblins and completely missed the flash of disappointment that Voldemort quickly covered up.

The goblins hadn't missed the look and occasionally sent speculative looks his way as they discussed what would be immediately needed by the DA. Harry refused to give up a sample of his blood without a better reason than "we want it". They were more than willing to perform the basic inheritance ritual for everyone and arrange for temporary sanctuary in the bank overnight for the group, free of charge. The sanctuary was immediately extended to an entire week as well as offers of health checks and basic training while in goblin territory once they actually had a look at Harry's memories of the Basilisk. The negotiations for the back up wands and removal of the ministry tracers put Harry's Slytherin traits undeniably on display and had the twins gloating that he was their business partner for the prank shop. Harry just rolled his eyes at the antics of the twins, never noticing that one of the goblins had taken them aside to discuss exactly what products they were actually making as well as their future plans.

It wasn't until Severus caught Harry practically sliding out of his seat that the goblins grudgingly called a halt to the bargaining. The army members were amazed when the magic of the room turned it into an impromptu dorm with a partition down the middle to create separate areas for boys/girls. When the goblins saw Harry smile gratefully, eyes tired and slightly haunted, as he was laid down in a nearby cot by a grumbling Severus and a remarkably fussy Voldemort they realized that the young man would have forced himself to continue. The strength and experience of a seasoned warrior turned true General that Harry showed before even coming of age had them respecting him more and more. Having seen this they were less surprised when the Dark Lord forced Severus to take the bed to Harry's right before climbing into the one on the left, effectively flanking him. The goblin's silent leave taking went unnoticed as everyone practically collapsed into their respective cots, secure in the knowledge that Harry had bought them sanctuary for the next seven days.

The dream was different this time, instead of barren black marble they appeared in the clearing with the statue dedicated to Harry's family. There wasn't a trace of black marble anywhere yet the statue had gained a giant obsidian tear drop hovering over its center and trailing wires of gold entwined with silver and copper. The way they were arrayed had them mimicking a waterfall of sunbeams creating a delicate cage about the statue and anchoring in the platform that held the three animals and oversized lily above the grass.

Severus was grateful that the three of them had appeared side by side with Harry in the middle and the sight of the statue made him worry that the younger wizard would break down again. It seemed that Harry was made of sterner stuff since all he did was draw his wand and conjure a flower to lay at the base of the statue before turning to his companions. They exchanged a long silent look as they studied one another in a way they hadn't been able to, since all of this began. Silently Severus dropped to one knee in front of Harry and bowed his head never saying a word. The slight rustle of grass in front of him told him that the looming shadow was Harry before his head was gently raised so that onyx and emerald eyes met as ruby orbs watched, unsure.

"I don't expect you to be anything but yourself," Harry said softly before pulling Severus back to his feet. The potions master nodded and stayed where Harry had placed him as the younger turned to face the third member of their party.

"Our bond appears to be fairly equal," Voldemort pointed out softly. "Though you obviously have complete mastery over Severus. He would not have knelt in such a fashion otherwise."

"Do you still deem me a threat?" Harry asked in detached curiosity.

"No, but I am fighting not to push, not to give in to my own possessiveness where it comes to you. Whatever happened to cause this you and thus Severus as well have become mine. How you are mine, why, and in what way we will have to discover and deal with as things progress. For now it is enough that you are mine. I protect and care for what is mine. I also suspect that you have been mine since the night your parents died, but that I was blinded by either my own arrogance or the machinations of another. For this, and my lack of care I apologize, only tell me what you would accept as repayment and I will attempt to provide it," Voldemort said honestly as he bowed his own head in shame.

Severus breathed in sharply at the offer, telling Harry that it not only was sincere but unprecedented. Harry hummed in contemplation but the lack of immediate rejection had Voldemort hoping they could come to some arrangement or at least a proper truce. Their meeting was interrupted by a loudly meowing cat that scampered up to them only to transform into Minerva McGonagall.

"You got away! Thank goodness!" Minerva cried as she stopped just short of them and visibly resisted the urge to at least drag Harry into a fierce hug.

"What happened?" Severus half asked, half demanded as he moved closer to Harry, standing just behind him.

"I lost the duel and from what I can tell the ol' bastard has me in some sort of trance or coma," Minerva informed them in great annoyance. "I could hear poor Poppy trying to wake me properly a few times. He also made certain to inform me that I was not only a good lieutenant but that I would never see the two of you again unless it was to watch you die."

"So he's gone the cliched villain route, lovely," Harry said with a grimace. "Do you know if he ever got his hands on a copy of the Evil Overlord's Handbook by chance? If so than he's going to be able to avoid some of the easier things to exploit, provided he didn't already have the experience."

"I'm afraid I've no idea what that is," Minerva said taken aback, only to glare at Severus when he couldn't keep from snickering.

"Minerva, the Evil Overlord's Handbook is just a list of things that someone made up about the things villains in films and the like tended to consistently get wrong, things that the hero often uses to win. As far as I know it never was published properly and could qualify as a very minor muggle cultural reference," the mischief dancing in Severus' eyes had Minerva relaxing as she enjoyed the safety of the teasing from her friend.

"On behalf of myself and the DA thank you for holding off Dumbledore," Harry told her sincerely.

"Are ye and the other students somewhere safe?" Minerva asked anxiously, reminded of the situation in the waking world.

"We're all at Gringotts," Severus assured her. "From what I could tell, nearly all of Potter's little club escaped with us and not a one was harmed. They thought ahead and had emergency plans in place, it was simply a matter of following them."

"I overheard your conversation in the common room despite being unresponsive, as such I must ask... has Dumbledore compelled or spelled either of you in any way?" Harry asked anxiously, the thought only having just occurred to him.

"I was," Severus admitted. "Our bond broke everything, every spell, every potion, every oath that linked or bound me to anyone but you in any fashion. Though his near constant threats to send me to Azkaban were more effective in keeping me in line and acting nasty to one and all, especially you and Longbottom."

"He gloated before handing me off to Poppy with all the world's false sympathy and worry," Minerva agreed almost sheepishly, embarrassed at being so ensnared in the first place. "Tis why I never was able to do much for ye and why I couldna go against him. If you manage to rescue me you'll need to stun me and have someone break them before I'll be safe. I've no idea why I was able to help you get away, nor why I didn't try to stop Severus in some way."

"Unless... your honest wish and the forming bonds might have disrupted or better dispelled some of the compulsion charms," Voldemort said consideringly. "I suspect that Severus was only so vulnerable to the spells on him since he had to act that way in any case, otherwise his Occlumency skills should have protected him some if not completely. If he was to keep from being sent to Azkaban or one of my less than intelligent followers got it into their head to try and kill him he could not allow his actions to slip for even a moment. It was fairly well known he was a spy but that very knowledge casts his true loyalties into doubt on all sides and for some it is enough to condemn him as a traitor."

"That hadn't occurred to me," Minerva said thoughtfully.

"The perfect position for a spy is when he is known as such by both sides and trusted completely by those same sides, especially their leaders," Severus pointed out with a deep sigh of resignation and regret. "The second best position as a spy is to not be known by anyone aside from their immediate superior as a spy, while still having succeeded in attaining a high place on the side they are opposing."

"We're going to have trouble getting you out," Harry told her grimly. "I suppose I can send the twins and have them use the map, but if Dumbledore's been tracking me all these years, especially at Hogwarts, he'll know all of the secret entrances and passages that I've used over the years. I never had a chance to find the outside entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and you'd need a parselmouth to open the doors any way so using that is out. I think we can all agree that if he captures me we're in even worse trouble and I'm not honestly sure of another way to open them. I suppose I could get a snake to go with the raiding party and hiss open at the doors and close when they're through. I can think of a couple of other ideas but they all include involving the ministry or telling the papers what's going on to some extent which would still give him more than enough time to hide you somewhere out of reach."

"Ye will _not_ try to rescue me," McGonagall ordered with a fierce scowl that had a smile playing about Severus' lips even as she forced her brogue into submission. "I'll not be having any of you putting yourselves at needless risk simply to rush me away to heaven knows where with no way to care for me if I canna be released from whatever that man did. I would be a burden and a risk to all of you."

"But," Harry started only to be interrupted by his Head of House.

"No," she told him firmly before allowing her expression to soften and explaining. "Harry, child, I see you as my own but you are a leader now and your thoughts must be for those who follow you as a whole. If you can retrieve and revive me all well and good, but not if it will put you at risk. You must remember that without leadership and discipline an army is only an undisciplined mob with little or no direction. Such a mob might find a target for a time but they all eventually either turn on each other or fall apart due to lack of leadership. Let Severus help you and protect those who have chosen you to lead them. For what 'tis worth you have my blessing and my heart goes with you. Would that I could give you more but that is neither here nor there."

Harry started to cry silently as the cat animagus began to fade from the enchanted meadow into thin air leaving the three alone. Voldemort and Severus quietly approached before drawing the still crying Gryffindor into their arms in an offer of comfort reminiscent of what had occurred at the end of the first dream. The silent comfort gave him more caring than he could ever remember receiving as he relaxed into a boneless heap in their arms, sitting in the grass until wakefulness called them from the strange realm of dreams.


	4. Kinshar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to VeltaIO (an english major), who helped by providing edits in a comment for the last several chapters.  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Something was wrong. Harry could feel himself and his two bonded, could sense that they all should be safe, but something was still wrong. He didn't resist the insistant pull back to consciousness, nor did he resist when whatever this was had him gathering up his two sleepy wizards and slipping silently through the back halls of Gringotts. The trance-like daze he was in automatically responded to the traps and various dangers that naturally inhabit a goblin stronghold. He didn't know about the panic their disappearance caused among the DA, nor the fact that the goblin guards stationed around his little army had been placed for their protection and the security of the bank.

One of the first goblins Harry had passed had recognized that not only were these actions not normal but that they weren't in control as the Gryffindor pulled his sleepy eyed bonded wizards stumbling down the hall behind him. Gringotts kept everyone out of his way as the young wizard warrior searched for something he wasn't awake enough to even guess at. Eventually, he pulled his bonded into a ritual room far back in one of the lower levels of the Gringotts main building. The loud thud of the door to the room magically closing brought the three of them to full wakefulness allowing them to feel the magical protections on the room slamming home, sealing them in.

"Oh shit," Harry said once he took in their situation in a glance of wide-eyed shock.

"What do you mean? For that matter what did you do?!" Severus demanded, using his best menacing teacher voice.

"Well at least this time I wasn't beaten awake like at the Dursleys," Harry grumped quietly as he examined their new surroundings.

Voldemort silenced Severus' next outburst with a silent glare, recognizing that something was happening that they needed to pay attention to, there would be time later for answers. Ignoring Severus' demand for information Harry set about examining the intricate designs set into the stone, forming a perfect ritual space. The magic would obviously light up the appropriate pattern within the beautiful stone inlay designs once the ritual began, making the room a perfect multipurpose ritual room. The stone floor would even allow the rituals that needed the designs to be done in a special or particular ingredient, like blood or salt, to be easily applied and cleaned up.

The goblins had chosen a light cloud-like green marble for the background and a light cloud-like grey for the inlays. If one were to trace each and every possible design set into the floor, walls, and ceiling they would likely be stuck in the room for at least three months. Harry had to admit that not only was the work superb, as was normal for all goblin craftsmanship, but it was amazingly beautiful not to mention magically stable. In that moment of admiration magic raced from where his feet were, outlining a pattern in the marble just before the trio was blinded by an explosion of magic.

The wave of white power engulfed the three, dragging them under the torrent of power so that they were suspended as if in water instead of air in the exact middle of the ritual room facing each other. The power raced through them, checking something here, correcting something there, holding them like delicate dolls in careful examination that was so light as to be nearly unbearable. Bones cracked and moved back into place healing flawlessly, scars disappeared as if they had never been, missing or damaged flesh became whole once more as their bond blazed.

The circuitry pattern that had appeared briefly on Severus' skin during their first joint dream returned, blazing with a power that glowed a bright blue. A lavender swirling pattern reminiscent of moving water or air etched its self onto Harry's skin, leaving his face and hands clear of any markings. The rags of his clothing disintegrated under the force of magical power in the room. Voldemort's skin shone a pearly white, his eyes blazing red as he sought through the bond, actively anchoring the other two through the powerful transformation and healing.

Harry's eyes gained an outer ring of black between his emerald rings and the whites of his eyes to match the thin line of gold that formed between the green and the black of his pupil. The flare of power that signaled the inclusion of the black and gold lines also heralded the changing of his pupils to cat-like slits, burning away his glasses as his eyes transformed. This final flare of magic left Harry completely naked as the three of them were lowered gently to the cold marble floor by the ebbing of the magic as it flowed from the room leaving nothing behind.

The moment they had settled on the floor the door to the ritual room burst open, revealing a harried looking group of eight goblins. Without a moments hesitation they entered the room, hurrying over to the insensate trio as two of them remained at the door. The three wizards were quickly carried from the drained room as the door was sealed behind them.

They were carried solemnly, almost ceremoniously, through the bank to a richly decorated room where they were placed on cots. All three were given light blankets despite Harry being the only one to have come out of the impromptu ritual naked. The goblins backed away from the three wizards once they were settled and wondered what would happen next.

"They survived," the youngest goblin muttered in disbelief. "Shouldn't we kill them for breaking in?"

"They did survive and you will respect that, youngster," the single grizzled goblin with a scar through his right eye snapped. "You need to review our lore and prophecy if you are so blind as to be unable to see what is plain as day to my eyes. Those markings on the youngest wizard show he's already proven himself in battle and they only manifest on the _Kinshar_. These other two are obviously his grounds, though the beak nosed one bears the marks of his closest _Sworn_. If the _Kinshar_ trained the group in the next room they are a powerful fighting force and the core of his guard. The Elders would do well to treat them all with the respect of blooded goblin heroes and their stalwart companions."

"Considering that the youngest has already slain a 1000 year old basilisk in single combat there is little risk that they won't. He also bargained with honor and wisdom when they arrived. If he is the _Kinshar_ then we must fulfill the remaining tests and they didn't break in, they were granted sancuary until the end of the week," the tattooed goblin from before said from the direction of the door. "For now leave them to rest, they will need it in the coming days."

The goblins grudgingly left them to rest, one of them stopping in to inform the DA about what had happened and explain why they were still confined before asking if anyone had any personal business to discuss. Ron and Hermione jumped on this to have everyone's trace removed and the inheritance rituals performed, in part as a way to distract everyone from worry over Harry and being confined to the room. Keeping to their word five goblin training masters were also provided to school the DA in the basics of war while they waited for the return of the dark haired trio.

Harry was the first to wake with a pained groan before turning over on the narrow cot only to land on the floor next to it with a yelp, the trailing blanket the only thing protecting his dignity. A low grunt echoed from either side, showed that the bond was still overloaded and once more fresh enough to transfer the slight pain of the fall. It wasn't until he saw his lovely new skin patterns and let out a yell that properly woke the other two wizards.

"What?" Severus demanded irritably before getting a good look at Harry's naked form, his modesty barely maintained by the blanket. The potions master forced his face to blankness, fighting a look of shock and amusement. He wondered darkly if this were a prank by the Weasley twins since he had not thought the duo so careless as to risk destabilizing their bargaining position while at the mercy of Gringotts and its goblin owners. 

Severus silently vowed that if this was a prank he would skin the perpetrators alive and use their parts in some of the very darkest potions he knew. Harry's glance upwards in obvious, barely restrained panic eliminated the possibility that he knew what was going on. The equally obvious change in the very nature of his eyes, however, was what put paid to the idea whatever this was, was a practical joke. With a deep sigh of resignation Severus pulled himself from his own cot, grumbling quietly at the general ineptitude of dunderheads. Finding his wand set on a nearby table with those of his companions he went to cast several diagnostic spells on Harry only to get caught on the edge and accidentally rip open his layered sleeves, revealing his own new skin designs.

In a flash, Voldemort was next to him and had his wand, less than a trice later Severus' outer robe and shirt had been banished off of him to his cot. The glare he gave his former master would have had most of the school quaking in their boots yet it barely phased the ruby eyed man as he studied the patterns on each of them. Harry quickly scrambled upright, wrapping his blanket around himself toga style in an attempt at maintaining some modesty.

"Well, you're not quite a matching set," Voldemort said judiciously after getting a proper look at the patterns on each of them, light blue circuit patterns on Severus and lavender flowing wind/water on Harry.

"I don't believe I care how well we match. What is more important is discovering why and how this happened," Severus shot back sarcastically. He quickly re-donned his shirt and robe, fixing the rent sleeves with a quiet repairo.

"I don't need my glasses anymore," Harry said in quiet awe, looking around at the heavily decorated room as if he had never seen anything like it before.

"Come now, there's no reason to be so excited. You're acting as if... exactly how bad was your vision? I didn't get a chance to do a proper intense scan on your eyes before this," Severus asked suspiciously as he finished buttoning up his shirt and robes.

"I couldn't read the board in the classroom no matter where I sat if that's what you mean. You also never explained _how_ each ingredient was supposed to be prepared, what each preparation word actually meant in terms of what it was supposed to look like and such, nor what the ingredients did. Its not my fault you're a crap teacher. Don't get me wrong, you're a brilliant potions master but teaching? You don't have the patience most of the time to explain things like the basics. You just assume that we already know it and are competent," Harry told him absently, still fascinated by what he could see with his new vision. Snape's dumbfounded look was to much and set Voldemort off in a round of cackling laughter that had him doubling over and brought Harry's attention back to them.

"Its no wonder you had so much trouble in my class if you couldn't even see," Severus retorted, having quickly regained his composure. "I'll grant you that I have little patience for fools and those who are unwilling to work hard for the grade. I also must admit that I was purposefully extra hard and demeaning to both you and Longbottom, on pain of Azkaban. Dumbledore couldn't afford to have you confident enough to actually question him now could he?"

That shut Voldemort up as an up-swell of pure rage surged forth to spill over the bond into the other two wizards, bringing them to their knees as they tried to deal with the flood of emotion. Severus tried his best to force his Occlumency barriers into position to protect him from the overwhelming tide of emotion. Yet he was unable to hold it back, the bond refusing to close in accordance with his will, nor bow to his mastery in mind magics.

Harry, on the other hand, bent with the tidal wave, flowing around and through it before instinctively following it upstream to find the source. What he discovered was a festering pain of betrayal, anger, terror, and crushed hope that mirrored his time at the Dursleys before Hagrid and his Hogwarts letter came. Along side the memory of that time was the night of Sirius' escape in third year followed quickly by the evening of his death and the revelation of the prophecy.

Harry did the only thing he could think of, he embraced the pain, the emotions, the very magic that was trying to swamp the three of them, clutching it close and doing his best to sooth both the hurt and the power that was behind it. By the time the three of them emerged from the finally calmed tsunami of magic and emotion it was three hours later and they were huddled in a puppy pile together at the foot of the cots. Surrounding them was a group of five very old goblins watching solemnly as wood around the room cracked and disintegrated to dust, more than one wall carving or piece of furniture having fallen to the power they had fought to master.

"He is _Kinshar_ ," One of the Elder goblins muttered, half resentful, half respectful.

"But which _Kinshar_?" the Elder goblin on the far left shot back.

"What's a kinshard?" Harry asked cautiously. "And can I have something to wear?"

" _Kinshar_ , not kinshard and its royalty of a sort," the center goblin said dismissively. He tossed Harry a plain black robe, which was quickly donned, before turning to argue with his fellows in rapid gobbledegook. The trio of wizards watched them warily as they argued for a good twenty minutes before coming to an unknown decision.

"Come," the only female goblin ordered as the four male elder goblins rapidly made their way out of the room. Harry was slightly annoyed that they seemed to expect him to wander around bare foot but was also happy enough that they had given him something to wear that he didn't say anything.

The female elder led them first into the hall and then further into the bank before arriving at a plain door that had no obvious way of opening. Motioning for them to wait she pulled a dagger before cutting her palm and placing her bloody hand against the door. The door glowed an eye searing red-black before dissolving away, an irritated hand wave had them entering the room on her heels moments before the door reappeared, sealing them in.

Harry found it strange that the obvious lack of an exit didn't bother him. In fact he found it both even odder and yet not that his gaze landed on and refusing to move from what he could see of a short sword half hidden among numerous other blades off to one side. The lady goblin had barely opened her mouth to speak to them when Harry was already moving to pick up the blade that had so fascinated him, having no thought to the other bits of armor and weaponry, his only goal that one blade. Utterly enthralled he held up the plain, well used blade to the nearby torch light only for it to glow the same color as marks that now adorned his skin.

"Put that down," Severus ordered sharply, recognizing a powerful magical artifact when he saw one.

"Morlan, its name is Morlan and its singing," Harry told him in soft awe. "Morlan misses its brother, Weiright."

Before anyone could move the short sword, more of a dagger really, melted into a silvery substance and reformed in thick coils around his right wrist. The single red gem that had been at the base of the grip now shone clean as it settled on the back of his forearm. A matching knife flew from the opposite side of the room to wrap around his left wrist with a glowing sapphire in place of the equally glowing ruby sported by its longer brother.

"You little fool," Severus said horsely, white faced at the risk Harry had taken _again_.

"I see why you're always ranting over him," Voldemort murmured equally white faced at the possible disaster that had very nearly manifested right in front of their eyes.

"What?" Harry asked cluelessly, finally turning to look at them and noticed how pale they both were. "What did I do now?"

"You carelessly approached and picked up a powerful artifact and with your impossible luck bonded to it instead of the more likely outcome of being killed by the blasted blade. You then bonded to its 'brother'," Severus snapped at him. "The same carelessness that I've seen you applying in potions class. Someone won't always be there to correct your mistakes."

"I have never run into a magical artifact, barring the stone in first year. I might as well be a muggleborn, since I have _less_ knowledge about anything magical than most muggle raised Hogwarts students. Every time I try to correct that I run into the expectations of the _bloody-Boy-Who-Lived_ ," Harry snarled back with a glare just as dark as the potion master's, standing his ground for once and dropping the mask created of expectations in favor of his true face. "I simply don't have the background training and knowledge that everyone presumes that I have. Hermione trys to help in part because one of her forte's is research and Ron try's but he doesn't have enough context to understand _why_ I need and want to know these things. He grew up with them and Hermione can't understand why I barely know more than the purebloods when it comes to muggle culture."

"And why do you know so little?" Voldemort asked softly, dreading the answer that he knew must come.

"Its a little hard to learn much when you're kept in the cupboard under the stairs as a house elf," Harry snapped. The dead silence that accompanied that answer allowed them to practically _hear_ the magic drain away into the weapons now bound to him, the glow of the gems fading away to nothing.

"Harry? Can you remove the bracelets?" Severus asked gently, more gently than he had ever spoken to him before.

"I... I don't know," Harry admitted shakily, glancing down at the magical weapons wrapped around his wrists. Before he could try the lady goblin stopped him, with a toothy grin she ran a finger down the gem on each bracelet, catching them as they fell from his wrists.

"Kinshar indeed," she murmured before bustling over to the shelf near the door and setting the bracelet-blades on it. Turning she studied the trio of wary wizards only to give them a blood thirsty grin and hold out three crystals. "You have passed a number of tests thus far. This one will test the bond you have formed and how well your bound grounds can do their job."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked warily. "What tests? I apologize for whatever happened to put us in that room with all the designs if that's what you mean and I honestly don't know why I picked up that sword. I can't think of anything else that might have been a test..."

"Your memory of single combat with the Basilisk accounted for your test as a warrior. The bargaining for your people accounted for at least three separate tests of leadership, shrewdness, and perception. The ritual room tested your potential power and the first bonding. The blades tested your heart and cleared the air between yourself and your bound grounds in preparation for _this_ test," the elder goblin explained patiently, her toothy grin widening with relish. "You will take this test or the doors will not open and we will remain sealed inside until the next _Kinshar_ is born and comes to their own testing, or a new refiner has been forged for the tests."

"What do we need to do?" Voldemort asked in resignation, not in the least surprised that the goblins would design a set of tests like this. Admittedly, he was slightly surprised that they would risk one of their elders like this but it also bespoke of how important the test was or whoever was being tested.

"You can't be serious," Harry said incredulously. "I can understand the weird deadly protection on the vaults but this? I don't even know what we're being tested _for_. Why does it rate all of this?"

"Weren't you listening earlier? _Kinshar_ is a type of royalty as in _Royal family_ ," Severus pointed out scathingly. "Is it any wonder that these so called tests are so elaborate? Or deadly? I suspect that if your damnable luck wasn't so strong we either wouldn't have survived the bonding or the ritual room or something on those blades would have triggered and we'd have been skewered by every blade in the room before we could move."

"No, nonononono!" Harry said backing away from the crystals lying serenely in the old goblin's outstretched hand, only to back straight into the other two wizards.

"What's wrong?" Voldemort asked softly as they both instinctively hugged the smaller panicky wizard between them.

"I'm not... I'm not, I can't be, I'm just a freak and a nothing and a burden," Harry practically sobbed, his emotions swinging wildly between heart-breaking sadness, terror, resignation, and despair. His worst memories flooded to the forefront of his mind's eye in a way that his experience with the Dementors told him was magical. He _knew_ that he was the only one affected and he hated how it was breaking him, whatever this was, in a way that even the gods be damned Dementors hadn't.

"Whatever you're doing stop it!" Severus snarled at the female goblin.

"Even if I wanted to I could not. The crystals have taken hold and it falls to the two of you to keep him alive," she told them nastily. "We will see if he is a _thief_ or a _Kinshar_."

The word thief told them both that there was no chance in hell that the goblins would help with this one, test or no test. Harry whimpered as they sank to the floor as a group, Voldemort and Severus diving frantically into the bond they shared in an attempt to reach him. They met no resistance and Severus made a mental note to try teaching him Occlumency again when they had the chance before they both slammed into his first unconscious defense.

-You said he was hopeless at the mind arts!- Voldemort mentally snarked as they fought with something that was at first an invisible wall that quickly morphed into a clear living jelly-like substance that quickly trapped them.

-As far as I know he is!- Severus snarked right back, fighting to keep his mental feet and not be tossed back along the bond into his own mind.

-Brat! Stop it! We're trying to help!- Voldemort mentally called out.

The gel abruptly let them go, melting away to nothingness. A force neither of them could name practically dragged them both forwards into Harry's memories. While there were flashes of incidents at school and facing Voldemort they both noticed that the large majority involved a walrus faced man, a horse-like woman, and a whale of a son. Not a single memory was happy and every last one of them had a dark tint to it that shouldn't have been there.

They finally stumbled into the memory that Harry was currently trapped inside. To their horror the walrus man was beating a six year old version of Harry with a belt, buckle flying to strike flesh. Barely a moment passed before they were putting themselves between Vernon and the small version of Harry, the glowing lavender markings showing through rips in his shirt telling them this was actually Harry.

Voldemort scooped him up as a snarling Severus mentally conjured a torrent of blades before sending them flying to pin Vernon to the kitchen wall. Dudley burst through the back door swinging a cricket bat and managed to not only hit the potion master's arm but seemingly break it. Severus repaired his arm while the overweight brat drew back to strike again, moving far faster than normal. Voldemort was the one forced to mentally catch the blades that dropped from the ceiling while bodily shielding Harry. It was Severus that identified the glowing lavender crystal the size of a marble flitting about near the ceiling but Voldemort who managed to smash it, abruptly they were dumped back into their own bodies.

Harry gave a gasp of breath as he looked around the storage room wildly, while a small light lavender tattoo formed just below the edge of the right jaw near the joint on each of his bonded. A light click was heard and the door dissolved, opening the way out. The lady goblin bowed deeply to them just in time to miss being brained by the bracelet-blades from before as they once more latched onto Harry's wrists.

"Less than five minutes, a new record and a true bonding with the selection tools. Please keep in mind that as goblin-forged blades those need to be returned to the goblin nation upon your deaths," she told them with a gleeful cackle. "I told Bornog that taking down a Basilisk in single combat did more than qualify him for the _Kinshar_ tests! And a full marking of the bonded grounds! Ragnok is going to be furious he lost the chance to perform the final testing."

"No more weird tests that might kill us then?" Harry asked warily, unconsciously gripping the robes of his companions tight enough to make his fingers go white.

"Not for verifying that you are _Kinshar_. I've no idea if you need to pass any more tests for your private business such as taking up a lordship or such," she told them congenially. "But come, we must get the three of you into attire more fitting to your station. Tailors will also be sent to outfit your guard in the traditional style and a banquet will be held to honor your Ascension to _Kinshar_."

"And how much is this all going to cost?" Severus asked acidly.

"Nothing, the arrangement was brokered long ago when there was still honorable dealings between goblins and wizards. Now come, we have much to do and little time to do it in," she scolded, ushering them from the room and into the hands of the waiting tailors.


	5. Tailored

A whirlwind of activity met them as they were hustled back into the magical room the DA had spent their time in. The trio barely had time to take in the general activity before being ambushed by a small group of over enthusiastic tailors pulling them in separate directions. A rapped out command in some high pitched and musical language by the female goblin elder had the tailors changing direction and nominally keeping them together. Harry was exceedingly grateful for this since he didn't feel comfortable letting either of them get to far from him, though for the life of him he couldn't say _why_.

While Harry was unwilling to do anything about it his bonded where not so reticent in expressing their displeasure at being potentially separated from him. One tailor that tried to lead Severus more than ten feet away got a very creative tongue-lashing that sent him scurrying off in tears. Voldemort's response, on the other hand, was to simply refuse to move beyond the ten foot mark that they instinctively seemed to know was there. The one idiot who thought to force him found himself on the floor screaming under the tender mercies of the Dark Lord's crucio.

"Stop it," Harry ordered as he ripped himself free of the tailors trying to dress him only to slam into Voldemort's side and wrap his arms around him, bracelet-blades catching slightly on the other man's robes. Severus wasn't far behind but also wasn't suicidal enough to try and physically interrupt his former master. A quick glance at Harry told the Dark Lord that the instruction was non-negotiable, a flick of his wrist snapped the connection between his wand and victim, ending the spell.

"Try to force us to move further from one another than we wish again and that will have felt like a love tap," Voldemort snarled at the shivering mess of a tailor. Harry just hugged him tighter, trying to use the bond to sooth the other man's anger. The female goblin elder just tsked and had the man delivered to their staff healers.

"Stupid man," she said scornfully while watching as the fallen tailor was carried moaning from the room. Everyone quickly got back to work when they discovered her glaring at the room in general. This time they kept Harry and his two bonded as close as was reasonably possible while quietly finishing the fitting.

The DA were outfitted in an old military style set up, trousers tight enough to boarder on being actual tights called leggings, and long sleeved shirt. For the final piece there a wide strip of cloth with a hole in the middle for the person's head to go through ending roughly between knees and mid-thigh called a tabard. The tabard went over top of the rest of the ensemble instead of robes, with a belt over top of the tabard to keep it from flapping about and flying into the wearer's face. The shirt was a deep purple, the leggings were a nice right forest green, and the tabard was a deep royal blue with a place picked out in black thread for the crest directly over where the heart would be. All three pieces of the uniform were lined with treated dragonhide and the boots were dragonhide covered in leather rather than sturdy cloth, both armoring them and hiding that fact.

Harry, on the other hand, was draped in cloth of gold, much to his disgust. The beautiful embroidery on the golden robe was the only redeeming feature in his opinion for all that it also made the cloth heavy, stiff, and hard to move in. The tailors managed to fit him for two such robes before he got fed up with the opulence and objected.

" _No_ , I'm probably not going to even wear them! Its too much," Harry protested as they brought over the third robe.

"But it is fit for royalty such as you. None of this plain cloth is fit to touch your skin. Rags, I tell you. Rags!" the head tailor said pompously before motioning the undertailors to go ahead any way.

"I've spent most of my life in second hand clothes, what you would call rags. I don't see anything wrong with them," Harry shot back tartly, dodging away from the grabbing hands that tried to force him into the third heavily embroidered and obviously expensive robe.

Neither Voldemort nor Severus interfered, enjoying the show, until one of the tailors managed to snag his arm hard enough to bruise. They were instantly ripping free of their own tailors to appear between the aggressive idiots and Harry, snarling at them. Harry, unashamedly hid behind them, glaring at the now quaking tailors. The sound of the DA also drawing their wands, causing protests to come from _their_ tailors, had the head tailor pausing.

"I will accept the first two for occasions where ritual and extreme formality is necessary. I will also accept _normal_ formal robes that I can actually move in for any other formal occasion. I will not accept a full wardrobe like that. Normal robes are fine and probably better than what I'm used to. I have a tendency to find myself in dangerous situations and unexpected duels, as a result I would appreciate any robes you give me to be cut so that the fabric won't get in my way, trip me, or hinder my movement. I am _not_ a bloody peacock! Quit trying to dress me as one!" Harry said in very obvious frustration, barely noticing the forming bruise from the overenthusiastic tailor.

"I wondered how long you would put up with their fussing," the watching female goblin elder commented with a toothy grin. "Kinshar are rarely willing to accept something they cannot do battle in and if they do they either don't wear it or find themselves rather dead, barring the few who had exceptional bodyguards. The tailors have your measurements by now and you will be provided with dueling appropriate clothes of the styles you have specified including a full set of dueling robes for formal duels. Your guard is being appropriate outfitted and sanctuary has been extended until they are trained as proper warriors. It will be up to you to blood them unless one of the trainers decides they have promise, at which point their trainers will deal with it."

"Great, fan-bloody-tastic," Harry said sarcastically.

"Your irreverence is refreshing," she told him happily before wandering off. "I will enjoy watching your training sessions, young Kinshar."

"Why does that make me wish I had fallen to Dumbledore at Hogwarts?" Harry asked warily only to have his bonded turn on him with glares of their own.

"Say something like that again and you will have both of us to deal with!" Severus hissed angrily. "Detention!"

"Now that we are bonded to you and have a better idea what you are truly like, do you honestly believe we would leave you to that maniac?" Voldemort added, just as displeased as the potions master.

Harry was completely floored, pupils dilating to slits in his shock. He half expected this sort of reaction from his friends, who were also his commanders among the DA, but these two? With everything that had happened in the last several days he still thought it was a toss up whether he was dreaming or his life had once more gone extremely strange. An aguamenti to the face from Seamus Finnigan brought him out of the shocked stupor, earning the Irishman a glare as his friends laughed.

"Harry isn't used to people trying to protect him Professor. I'm actually really surprised he didn't try to get in front of the two of you when you defended him earlier, even if it was just from a tailor," Hermione explained, voice laughing at her friend's predicament as he stood there half soaked and irritated at the need for the soaking in the first place.

"How would he even serve detention anyway?" Ron asked thoughtfully.

"Oh, have no fear on that score Mr. Weasley," Severus said evilly, making Harry gulp and wonder if he shouldn't have kept his mouth shut.

"Ah, so keeping Harry alive and whole is now Professor Snape's job," Fred snickered.

"Oi, don't forget about his darkness!" George pointed out, only for the twins to quickly disappear into the crowd of DA members when both men sent glares their way.

"Do either of you know exactly what a _Kinshar_ actually is? What is associated with one and stuff?" Harry finally asked resignedly. "The one word answer from the goblins of royalty didn't exactly explain much."

"Not really," Severus admitted grudgingly.

"I have come across the term during some of my past research but there was very little actual information on the term and anything associated with it. I came across some spells that seemed to be specific to the _Kinshar_ and anyone bonded to them but not much else," Voldemort informed them both with a deep sigh of resignation. "I don't recall enough of them to be useful."

"You could always ask again, maybe they'll be more willing to explain since they're calling you _Kinshar_. You might not have been a _Kinshar_ before," Hermione pointed out logically.

"I'm just glad that we have a safe place to stay and people willing to help train us," Ron pointed out with a grimace. "We're going to need the skills at some point, though it looks more and more like we'll be fighting Dumbledore rather than your Dark Lord."

"Oi! Who said he's _my_ Dark Lord," Harry demanded playfully. Ron just met his eyes seriously causing him to sigh heavily and drop the act.

"Alright, make sure everyone gets at least the basics when it comes to training and have someone ask about healer training. We need at least two more people to be dedicated medics since I don't think I can get Professor Snape to stand off to one side and play medic. _Everyone_ gets to learn basic first aid and if we can't get the goblins to help us learn that then we'll have to go from 'mione's books. Tell Fred and George that they can pick between information gathering or making pranks that we can use to fight with but make sure that both get done. We need more information on both sides. No offense to either of you, Professor, Voldemort, but we'll need confirmation on any information that you give us and there might be changes unknown to either of you," Harry said briskly. "Hermione can organize everyone and use the time we have sanctuary to expand her portable library, organize the information we have, and research some of what we already know. Ron, as usual, you're in charge of making sure everyone is combat ready and plotting strategies."

"What about your bond and bonded?" Hermione asked quickly before he forgot to take it into account.

"Until we have more information on the bond I'm not comfortable trying to stretch the bond. It felt really weird to have either of them too far away. I'd like to try and avoid that in the future but we still don't know practically anything about this bond or what happened when I wandered to far into the bank with them," Harry admitted ruefully. "We know that what happened mostly restored Voldemort's soul, definitely restored his sanity and looks, gave both of them a sense of my health and drew them both to me. I'm not sure if the sense of health is limited to only physical health or mental health or both since I was in trouble with both of them the first time they said something about it and I was awake enough to hear. From what happened earlier today they can also obviously ground me and enter my mind to help when I'm in trouble but I'm not sure what else..."

"I will need a lab and ingredients, both to make potions we may need but also for several detection potions which may help us learn something about the bond," Severus said quickly, ignoring the lack of mention about the bond marks or bracelet-blades and before Harry could dismiss anyone. "I am willing to make a potion or two for Gringotts in exchange for what I.. we need."

"I'm gonna be stuck helping you brew or sitting doing nothing while the two of you brew aren't I?" Harry grumbled resignedly, but gave his own nod of agreement that they needed the ingredients and equipment. Severus just smirked at him evilly and Ron snorted as he realized that this was going to be part of his friend's detention, no matter that they were no longer at Hogwarts.

"Harry... if this bond healed his _soul_ then I don't think we'll be able to break it," Hermione said carefully, glancing worriedly at her friend.

"It is debatable whether the healing came before or after the bond was established or even during," Voldemort explained patiently, not even bothering to deny that he had needed the healing in the first place. "As far as I can remember the first mention of the healing was during our original dream, which included Dumbledore. As such we have absolutely no idea if there is a soul component and neither I nor Severus recognized the bond or we would have said something. The bond is truly an unknown, though from the reactions of the goblins during our _testing_ I suspect it has occurred before and may be unique to whatever _Kinshar_ actually is."

"That would actually make more sense and it would be dead useful to know if Harry's trouble magnet status was associated with his _Kinshar_ status or not," Hermione admitted thoughtfully, eyeing her friend with a light that he recognized as her _time to experiment on Harry_ look.

"No, Hermione, I'm not playing guinea pig," Harry protested, immediately backing away from his genius female friend.

The stubbornness that settled into the set of her shoulders and raised chin told him arguing would be pointless and that he needed to start running instead of just backing away from her. The bond jerked him up short and staggered both of his bonded when he accidentally passed the ten foot mark, effectively trapping him in Hermione's reach. Both of his bondmates felt his terror spike from general wariness and low level fear to near panic when the bond stopped him and prompted them to move protectively in between Harry and his friend.

"Interesting, now are you doing this voluntarily or is the bond forcing you?" Hermione muttered, stalking towards them, the light of a mad genius dancing in her eyes.

Harry didn't plan on sticking around with Hermione obviously in one of her more _inventive_ experimental moods. He instinctively reached out through the bond and his magic to grip his two bonded and bolted from the room, the two older wizards zipping along like a flag flying behind him. The twins roared with laughter as Harry belted past, his confused and disconcerted bonded floating less than two feet behind him at roughly head height with Hermione close on their heels. Ron just shook his head in amusement and, turning to the DA, got to work.


	6. Accounts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years! Happy Holiday!  
> Yes, I know I'm late. Enjoy the chapter!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took three days, with the help of special goblin magics and limited use of a time distortion room to train them all to at least the basic level of goblin combat competence. In that time Harry further earned the respect of the goblins and worked on his bond with Severus and Voldemort. Harry was still sore over the near continual repetition of a limited set of movements he was told could be combined into a complete and versatile fighting form. The issues with the bond and Harry's resultant attempts to hide from Hermione came to a head late the same day that the last of them were declared competent in weapon and hand to hand basics.

"Harry James Potter! You will sit still and let me check you!" Hermione thundered, chasing her friend around the medium-small room as Voldemort and Severus sat off to one side enjoying the show. Harry, for his part, scrambled over and around furniture to stay out of his friend's reach. He was insanely grateful for the unspoken agreement that no magic was to be used for something like this, it was the only chance he got to escape.

"Are our observations not good enough Miss. Granger?" Severus asked in an amused drawl, finally taking pity on Harry's scramble to escape her experimental clutches.

"Oh, its not that they aren't good enough professor," Hermione said, pausing in her attempts to corner her friend. "There are just somethings that I can drag from Harry that neither of you would ever share with me."

"Like what?!" Harry squawked indignantly. Hermione's evil grin was the only warning he got that he'd asked the wrong question.

"Have you kissed them yet? How about sex?" Hermione asked sweetly. Harry's bright red blush immediately intrigued both of his bonded.

"No and no," Severus drawled, watching with great interest as Harry's blush deepened.

"Why not!? You've been lusting after them for more than a year," Hermione demanded. Harry just quietly slunk behind a giant wing-backed chair, hiding in embarrassment and refused to answer. An exchanged look between the older Slytherins had them silently agreeing that they would be investigating this later, with extreme diligence.

"Ah, more evasion training?" The Potter Accounts goblin manager asked with a toothy smirk, calmly entering the room to sit at the desk carrying a number of parchments.

"I can't believe you lot approve of me being chased about by an insane witch intent on torture," Harry complained with a playful scowl, obeying the slight tug on the bond from one of his bonded, moving towards them. Both of them snorted in amusement but allowed him to settle between them as they all turned their attention to the amused goblin.

"At your request we have kept you for last in the inheritance testing," Harry's account manager started, completely ignoring his playful whining in favor of getting down to business. "Your status as Kinshar is likely to alter the results of the normal testing and may require you to pass certain requirements to survive the testing for any Lordships and inheritances you might be in line for."

" _Survive_? You mean it could kill him?" Hermione demanded in outrage only to be pushed back into the chair she was instinctively rising from by Ron.

"As Lordships come with certain benefits and responsibilities, often enforced by the very magic testing the applicant... yes," the goblin manager said simply.

"'Mione, we're doing the blood test to see what he's eligible for _then_ deciding if he should try to pass the test and accept the titles," Ron pointed out calmly. "He can always try for them later or say he doesn't want the title and let someone else try for it."

Harry had proceeded to follow Severus' quiet instructions on how to perform the inheritance test with the tools provided while his friends argued. His small gasp of surprise immediately snagged their attention and had them dropping the conversation. A lovely family tree was spreading out on the special parchment from where he had allowed three drops of blood to land and several more parchments magically appeared underneath the main one.

The Potter Account Manager snatched them before the information had a chance to finish forming, preventing them from getting a proper look at it. The goblin hummed a bit as he went through the now fully formed papers muttering random things in gobbledygook as he perused the information. They all waited patiently, or impatiently in Ron and Hermione's case, for him to be done and tell them what was relevant in the mass of information that had formed on the parchments.

"It seems that Mr. Potter is Heir by blood to the Potter, Gryffindor, Peverell and Black names. Normally Draco Malfoy would take precedence as Heir Black for being closer to the main branch of the Black family through his mother. However, Sirius Black blood adopted you less than a week after your birth and later reconfirmed that you were his heir. Since he was never officially disinherited you became the Black Heir by both blood, through your grandmother, and choice. Had he not done so you would be the Black Heir after Draco Malfoy. There is no one else living who is eligible for the Potter or Gryffindor Lordships as they came through your Potter Grandfather. There is one other who is eligible for the Peverell Lordship through Cadmus Peverell, one Tom Marvolo Riddle. You would be eligible via Cadmus' younger brother Ignotus, as such you would be his heir for that Lordship should he choose to claim it. At this time you may not test for it due to certain qualification restrictions on the Lordship," the goblin told him bluntly.

"I'm your heir?" Harry asked dumbly, looking at Voldemort. Then the rest of it hit, he was heir to four separate Lordships and had no clue about any of his duties, responsibilities, or privileges. He started swearing viciously in parseltongue about how in the dark Dumbledore had kept him.

"So is he cursing about you, Dumbledore, or having more responsibility dumped on him?" Ron asked Voldemort in obvious interest, patiently waiting for the translation.

"I think he's cursing out Dumbledore and how much information he's been denied," Voldemort said consideringly. "With this information, even without the bond, I wouldn't be able to kill him. There are some very specific laws and magics that help maintain the line of succession for various old pure blood families."

"You are Tom Marvolo Riddle?" the goblin asked with interest.

"Yes, and if possible I would like to test for the Peverell Lordship as well as re-certify for the Slytherin and Gaunt Lordships," Voldemort said smoothly, ignoring Harry's continuing, highly inventive Parseltongue tirade. "I believe that my previous state of existence may have muddled the status of my affairs and wish to rectify that."

"Accepting Mr. Potter officially as Heir Peverell would automatically classify him as Heir Gaunt and Slytherin due to his status as a Parselmouth and his status as your only heir," the goblin warned.

"I understand and accept this, should I choose another for any of the Heirships I will be certain to inform Gringotts and file the appropriate paperwork," Voldemort said graciously. The goblin grunted in acceptance and retrieved the paperwork, magically summoning the specified Lordship rings for the testing of the two wizards.

"How do we do this?" Harry asked firmly, deciding he was going to try for the Lordships he was eligible for.

"Simply place the rings one by one on your ring finger. If you are indeed the rightful lord you will magically receive all the necessary information," the goblin informed him with a smirk.

"Let me guess if I'm not the rightful lord it will kill me?" Harry asked half amused yet still reaching for the ring with what he recognized as the Black family crest. The goblin simply smiled toothily at him and separated the six lordship rings into two piles, one for each of them.

"Allow the Dark Lord to go first, his Lordships are mostly older than yours," Severus warned, catching Harry's hand before he could actually touch the lordship rings.

Harry hesitated in pulling away from Severus' grip just long enough for Voldemort to snatch up the oddly familiar Peverell ring and slip it on. His draw in hiss of a breath as he rubbed his temple told them that not only had the magic accepted him the large amount of information he was getting was obviously slightly painful. Severus kept firm hold of Harry's hand and drew him back from the rings as they waited to see if anything else would happen to the Dark Lord.

Five minutes later Voldemort shook off the side effects and reached for the Slytherin ring, determinedly ignoring Harry's wordless sound of protest to slip it on. Severus made him wait until Voldemort had finished with each of his three rings before reluctantly letting Harry go so that he could claim his own Lordship rings. The rush of knowledge jolted Harry hard enough to rattle his teeth when he slipped on the Gryffindor ring and with each successive ring he got hit harder by the magic. Until, on the last ring he hung limp and practically panting from the arms of his bonded.

"Had you waited I would have warned you that as you are not yet 25 you might want to space it out to attempting to claim one to once every two weeks," the goblin said pointedly, obviously miffed that he'd been interrupted earlier.

"That could have _killed_ him," Ron growled angrily, forcing himself not to lunge forwards and strangle the little creep.

"Hardly, he might have been knocked out for around six hours but as long as he didn't try to claim a Lordship that wasn't his it wasn't any where near dangerous," the goblin account manager informed them with a sniff of disdain.

"Then maybe Mr. Potter should request a different account manager if you treat his life in such a cavalier fashion," Severus said caustically, levering Harry back into a sitting position between him and the glowering Dark Lord.

"That is, of course, Lord Potter-Gryffindor-Black's prerogative," the goblin said, outwardly unruffled but inwardly sweating at possibly loosing his position in the Gringotts hierarchy. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged a glance before Hermione stood up and walked out of the room only to return with Griphook less than five minutes later.

"You asked to see me, Kinshar?" Griphook asked uncertainly.

"Is he who you want?" Severus asked softly, studying this new goblin and the now visibly worried account manager.

"Griphook, would you mind terribly running my accounts for me? After the stunt my current manager just pulled I don't trust him to handle my affairs," Harry asked bluntly.

"I don't have much experience but I will do my best," Griphook said offering a deep bow of respect to the young lord. The death glare from the former account manager didn't appear to ruffle him in the least as the goblin made his way out of the office while Griphook took the abandoned seat. "I will need some time to run through the records and get an accounting for you but is there anything that you would like done in the mean time?"

"No one has bothered telling us what's happening in the Wizarding World, nor have we been informed as to Harry's duties and responsibilities as Kinshar or a lord for that matter," Hermione told the surly goblin as she retook her own seat. "We can hardly make appropriate plans without even basic information."

"The Kinshar's duties and responsibilities vary and reveal themselves over time. Traditionally, the Kinshar is recognized as an arbiter among all magical beings and selected from the most appropriate species available at the time. The connection between the Kinshar and any ground they may have varies depending upon raw power of those involved, need, and previous relationship. There may be other factors which the records do not reveal but the relationship between the Kinshar and their ground, if any, is proven to affect the power and effectiveness of the Kinshar. The closer the bond the better they manage to not only perform their duties and responsibilities but survive. I will warn you now that many see the Kinshar as a threat and will attempt to kill Mr. Potter due to his status as Kinshar," Griphook informed them calmly. "That said among many magicals of all types the Kinshar and his people are practically revered and to enter into the service of the Kinshar or one of his people is considered an honor. The word of the Kinshar among his people is law and respected as such by all who recognize the Kinshar."

"As you know I am bound to Harry, as is Severus, but how does this affect those who bear my mark?" Voldemort asked curiously.

"It is unusual but not unheard of for one of the Kinshar's grounds to form an army before being bound to the Kinshar," Griphook granted. "While still counted as your servants and thus a part of the Kinshar's people they are not a part of the original group, its a bit of a grey area. You are still fully responsible for their actions but it is also expected that you will deliver appropriate punishment under the rule of the Kinshar to your own people. Should they happen to bear a version of a magical slave brand then they count as your property and the standard slave responsibilities apply."

"Thank you, that was most helpful," Voldemort said with a gracious nod.

"May I ask... what specifically did your former manager do to earn your displeasure Mr. Potter?" Griphook asked, taking a risk that the sweet child he remembered taking to his vault for the first time wouldn't bite his head off for impertenince and ask for someone else.

"When he warned us about the Lordship rings he failed to inform us until afterwards that as the brat is not yet 25 he needed to wait two weeks between attempts to claim the lordship rings," Severus drawled, a hidden snarl in his voice. Griphook blinked in surprise and ran through the information he had on lordship rings and how they would interact with a mythical Kinshar.

"I will have him investigated immediately," Griphook told them gravely. "Mr. Potter's position of Kinshar is likely the only thing that kept him alive if indeed he did claim his eligible lordships all at once."

"Great, yet more things that make me a freak," Harry muttered only to suddenly become aware of the low growls from his grounds. Gulping, he realized he should have kept his mouth shut and that he was in for a detention or some other punishment from his grounds once they were alone.

"You sure I can't kill your relatives mate?" Ron asked with a growl of his own only for Harry to face-palm and shake his head no. "Pity, I think that Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange would have loved the gift."

"Griphook is there somewhere I can take my people where they would be safe? Some estate or something that maybe came with these lordships where we can train and prepare for when I have to take down Dumbledore?" Harry asked, brandishing the hand that had his lordship rings. "Or maybe some place we can buy as a group? The sanctuary you guys gave us is great and all but there's a time limit to it and when I claimed my grounds the magic, the bond, made it very clear I have to take out Dumbledore."

"Will this be done through legal channels, combat, personal combat, financially, politically, assassination, character assassination, or any combination thereof?" Griphook asked gleefully. His brethren would be absolutely delighted to discover that the first divinely mandated target was the Headmaster.

"Fuck, I don't know, any way I can," Harry said with exasperation. "All I know is that he's a threat to everyone and has decided I'm one of his weapons who's become a bit to uppity. If I have to I'll slip up on him while he sleeps and slit his goddamn throat but that just strikes me as dishonorable and counterproductive if I haven't at least broken his power base first."

"Finally! Some common sense!" Severus said with half faked astonishment. Harry just made a rude gesture at him getting a smirk from both his grounds in return as Griphook made a gleeful note on a spare bit of parchment.

"Why are you so happy about this?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Dumbledore has been meddling in goblin affairs and affairs of the bank for to long," Griphook said darkly. "Its gone on long enough that we would be willing to settle on a technicality to express our displeasure with him. To find that he has gone far enough that a Kinshar is sent after him will make many people very happy."

"Then one has to have done something very very wrong to have a Kinshar after them?" Hermione asked sharply. Griphook just gave her a nasty grin and didn't say anything as he started sorting through the paperwork on the desk.

"Will you only be handling the Potter affairs or all of my affairs including this Kinshar business?" Harry asked politely, his eyes sharp and intelligent. Griphook paused before looking cautiously up at his employer.

"That would be up to you Mr. Potter. Should you make me manager over all of your affairs that would also include the affairs of your grounds and anything related to the Kinshar. The first six months wages for your guard are already covered by Gringotts as a courtesy just as your basic training and outfitting is covered by the original agreement. Should you wish further privileges you would have to be accepted as a full member of the goblin nation and become an adult of a clan, thus becoming a full clan member. Your grounds would either have to pass the tests alongside you or be counted as either spouse or property depending on the circumstances," Griphook explained carefully, watching Harry with sharp eyes. "There is precedence to establish the Kinshar and his people as a goblin clan for a time but extending the status beyond the life time of the Kinshar is tricky due to the special status that accompanies the Kinshar."

Harry nodded thoughtfully, falling into silent contemplation as they all waited on his decision.

"Griphook, at the moment you are one of the few people I even remotely trust outside of the DA and my grounds. I want you to manage _all_ of my affairs and check that everything is in order. If you have to check the people involved as well. I get the sinking feeling that Dumbledore has done something that none of us are going to like," Harry said slowly.

"It will be done. That said, you and your guard acquitted yourselves well during the three months inside the time warp room of grueling combat training and several did well enough to receive advanced training on their own merits. Two were deemed failures and potential threats, they are being held for your judgement and will not be receiving further training from the goblin nation," Griphook informed him.

"Names?" Ron snapped out.

"Edgecomb and Chang," Griphook responded promptly.

"Both were reluctant to join the DA in the first place and, aside from Ginny, appear to have the largest interest in Harry rather than what was being taught," Hermione summarized with a grimace. "I honestly think that they should be bound by a secrecy charm and sent back to their families, especially since they're both bullies. I've caught them harassing younger students on more than one occasion, including fellow DA members."

"Now that we aren't at Hogwarts and actually going to fight for real we can be a bit more selective," Ron pointed out. "The core members are me, 'Mione, Harry, the Twins, Neville, and Luna. Some of the others have made a decent amount of improvement and are completely loyal to Harry but at least a few are following Harry as the Boy-Who-Lived and could be turned by a persistent, not to mention persuasive enemy. To fix this or at least lessen the risk we'll have to organize it similar to the Death Eaters with inner and outer circles and control who gets what information."

"We'll go with Hermione's suggestion," Harry conceded with a sigh. "It will get them out of the line of fire without putting the rest of us at risk. We were already set up with inner and outer circles so formalizing it will just reduce the confusion and reinforce the command structure we already have."

"It will be done," Griphook told him, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. "Is there any thing else?"

"Not at the moment but I need those location options before our sanctuary runs out and we need to know what's happening in the rest of the wizarding world," Harry told him bluntly.

"Harry? I'll take care of arranging that. I have to sort out my parents and the emancipation or guardianship of some of the DA any way," Hermione offered gently, noticing the small signs of how tired he was getting, emotionally if not physically. "Take your grounds and go rest, besides you need some time alone to sort out how the three of you are going to work together without fighting to much."

"I'll leave it to you and Ron then," Harry said gratefully before gathering up his grounds and heading for the private room the three of them had been granted.


	7. We are Yours and You are Ours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, you guys got two chapters in less than 24 hours. I was inspired so I went with it.  
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Nearly the moment they were in their room Harry found himself trapped between his grounds. He instinctively lashed out only to find himself quickly restrained by their quick hands and hard bodies.

"Did you think you could hide your attraction forever?" Severus' smooth voice had Harry fighting less to get away and more not to melt into their arms.

"You may own us Harry but that just means that we own you equally in return," Voldemort's smirk was practically audible. Harry was completely blindsided by the all consuming kiss that quickly followed that declaration.

"Let go, you don't have to be the leader here," Severus soothed. Harry tensed before forcing himself to relax and simply enjoy what was happening, he was panting by the time the kiss finally broke.

"You know I was going to woo you slowly but I decided to test the waters a bit and make my intentions clear," Voldemort rumbled softly as he maneuvered the trio onto the bed, fully clothed and staying firmly on top of the covers. "It seems you were more stressed than I had anticipated and you've been better at hiding your affections than is to be expected from someone your age."

"And how else was I going to survive or keep anyone I cared about safe?" Harry muttered with a snort of derision, blowing his bangs out of his eyes irritably.

"Slytherins, like the serpents that represent us, are highly territorial. Once we _fuck_ you we will try to kill anyone who attempts to take you from us," Severus warned seriously. "And we will be doing so soon."

"I didn't ask for this," Harry protested, refusing to meet their eyes.

"Didn't you?" Voldemort asked softly. "You let us into your mind with barely a fight, Miss. Granger seems to be under the impression that you've been lusting after us for an extended period of time, you practically melted when we not only restrained you but kissed you moments ago... I'd say you've already accepted our suit, especially if the bonding is provided as evidence as well. If you want to play games that's fine with us, you'll belong to us in the end."

Harry couldn't hide his furious blush from the two smirking Slytherins as they held him bodily trapped between them on top of the bed.

"You know this bond is incomplete," Severus said gently. "You know what it will take and you are fighting it tooth and nail, why?"

"You don't deserve a freak like me. You _both_ deserve better," Harry said bitterly, fighting not to cry at the thought of loosing them.

"You will _never_ call yourself such a disgusting name ever again," Severus said angrily as he forced Harry to look up at both of his angry grounds and meet their eyes. "If I have to wash your mouth out and turn you over my knee so that you can't sit down properly for a week every time I hear such a thing then I will do it. Petunia and her family are already going to die for their treatment of you and you _will_ learn that what they have taught you are nothing but a pack of lies!"

Harry didn't fight the firm grip on his chin that forced him to meet their gazes nor did he even twitch at the angry tone. He could tell they weren't angry at him per-say but that didn't change what he had been taught all of his life, not yet in any case. There had been some hope that the bond wouldn't push them into a physical relationship but looking at these two amazing men he realized it had been wishful thinking. How can someone be that fucking hot when they are so obviously angry?

Harry knew he didn't deserve them. He would do his duty and find a way to let them both go on and find someone else, even if it meant his death. He knew in his heart that Severus' earlier words were true and that they would never let him go but Harry still couldn't yet believe he was worth the trouble that would come.

"Stop that," Voldemort snapped with a furious growl, bringing Harry out of his thoughts with a sharp jerk. "If you _ever_ consider abandoning us and letting yourself get killed again you'll get more than a spanking and your mouth washed out."

"He certainly won't be leaving our rooms anytime soon afterwards if he does," Severus purred in a dangerous tone of agreement that had Harry gasping in sudden arousal. Severus smirked, seeing the arousal mirrored in his eyes and leaned closer to hiss into his ear. "Disobey again, imp, and you'll find exactly how inventive we can be with any punishments we decide to give you for your recklessness. You are not a freak and hardly worthless. We would never bond with someone like that, willingly or otherwise so toss those thoughts straight out of your head."

"Do you think he's pure? Or perhaps he gave himself to someone already?" Voldemort asked with a speculative look quickly followed by a leer.

"If he did give himself to someone and they try to take him from us they will find out exactly why we have the reputations we do," Severus pointed out, still smirking. Harry's moan of barely suppressed lust greatly pleased both of his grounds.

"Well? Should we _fuck_ him? Fill him until he can't stand it any more? Make him beg?" Voldemort asked suggestively.

"Perhaps we should explain why we are so comfortable double teaming him like this?" Severus suggested, noting Harry's nervousness and knowing that they didn't want to scare him away regardless of their teasing and the, by now, very obvious intentions.

"Very well, depending upon my sanity at the time Severus has been my lover off and on for some time now and we've both admitted to one another that we want you. Of course with the situation at the time we also knew we wouldn't get the chance what with you being under Dumbledore's thumb and hating us. So imagine our surprise when the bond not only formed but we discovered not less than an hour ago that you might return our feelings?" Voldemort told him with a smirk.

"Oh god, the two of you are going to be the death of me," Harry whimpered before giving into the urge to reach down and try to rub his now very swollen cock through his pants, only for his hand to be caught by an all out grinning Severus.

"Now, now, that's _our_ toy," Severus purred as Voldemort banished Harry's clothes to the floor at the end of the bed, wand on top of the pile.

"I haven't said yes," Harry said, desperately trying to keep control of the situation which he never had.

They immediately stopped and looked at him, arched eyebrows and all, only for Harry to blush and mumble a yes, neither Slytherin waited for him to change his mind as they dove in for a kiss. Severus got to Harry's lips first so Voldemort settled for nibbling on their brat's neck, occasionally blowing into his ear. Harry shuddered under the assault of sensation and made noises that just drove them to further devour him. A burst of accidental magic from Harry had the two Slytherins just as naked as Harry with both remaining wands falling to the floor next to the bed, much to the smaller wizard's delight. They crawled all over each other, exploring, tasting, and savoring one another as if this was the last time they would ever touch. The patterns on Harry's and Severus' skins making delightful tracks for the other two to follow with their tongues and kisses.

"You are never getting away from us and this bond is never getting broken," Severus growled as he wandlessly conjured some lube and started rubbing a bit into Harry's hole.

"That stings," Harry hissed before Voldemort claimed his mouth.

"It does at first, which is why we are going to be very careful and stretch you well beyond your begging point," Severus agreed with a smirk.

Harry's eyes went wide as he felt the first finger slip into his hole only for them to close in sudden pleasure when Severus scooted down and licked his cock as a counter point. Voldemort muffled the small sounds coming from Harry only occasionally breaking the all consuming kisses so that they could both breath. Severus teased Harry open until he could easily take three fingers, absently sucking on the smaller male's cock every now and again.

"Which one of us takes him first?" Severus mused as Harry writhed on four of his fingers, more than open enough to take one of their cocks.

"Stretch him more, we'll take him together," Voldemort ordered as they broke for breath before devouring Harry's mouth again.

"No, not the first time," Severus argued. "He's going to feel overly full as it is and I'm very nearly fisting him. We might be able to take him together in as little as a week if we wear him out every night and if we are very lucky but for his first time? Its to soon without risking tearing not to mention real pain."

"Not if one of us takes his succulent mouth," Voldemort retorted, finally letting Harry's mouth go so that he could gasp and moan, making them both even harder.

"He was to tight and his reactions to pure to have been with anyone else, we have to take it slow," Severus pointed out. "We're going to have problems holding back as it is and we don't know his preferences."

"Please, more please!" Harry begged, wriggling and trying very hard to entice one of them to just fuck him, just as Voldemort had promised he would.

"This is your last chance to say no. Once one of us is inside you, you belong to us," Voldemort had the barest presence of mind to warn. Harry just grabbed his head and started kissing him again as he moaned lustfully.

"I will take that as my cue," Severus said with a smirk and slide up his entwined lovers to slide into Harry's well oiled hole. Harry's shout of surprise was swallowed by the kiss he had started as Voldemort's hips jerked against Harry's searching for friction.

"Now, you are ours," Severus hissed gleefully into his ear while Harry gasped into Voldemort's mouth and got used to having something so large in his ass. 

The moment Harry accepted Severus' statement magic flared and the smudge of their bonding mark on the underside of each of their chins flowed out to completely cover the vulnerable flesh. The pale lavender darkened to a deep purple and only stopping at the throat and edge of the jaw on all three of them and forming a natural triangle, leaving no illusion to anyone that they were not fully bonded. Their minds merged very briefly, cementing the mental portion of the bond irrevocably. They spent the rest of the night reaffirming the bond and making each other very pleasantly sore.


	8. Breakfast Arrest?

They woke tangled in each others limbs, completely at peace for the first time in more than a decade. Harry couldn't believe what he had done the night before and yet he also couldn't bring himself to regret it, his only concern was for his bondmates. The light blue water markings on his skin glowed slightly with residual power from the bonding, pulsing in time with the lavender glow from Severus' circuitry marks and the pure white glow from Voldemort's skin.

Harry, using the light of their skin, very carefully attempted to extract himself from his bondmates only for them to sleepily tighten their grips, foiling his attempt at heading for the bathroom. His need wasn't yet urgent so he was only mildly annoyed at being trapped on the bed. Muttering quietly about possessive snakes he tried again, succeeding in getting free only to be brought to his knees less than five feet from them as they bolted upright in bed with matching yelps of pain. Harry quickly scooted closer to the bed from his position on the floor and looked up at his observing bondmates with an adorable pout.

"It appears your leash has shortened," Severus said, his voice full of mirth.

"I don't need a leash," Harry said with a scowl.

"I beg to disagree, especially after that glimpse of memories last night," Voldemort said softly as they got out of the bed and pulled Harry to his feet.

"Which may be why it happened," Severus said thoughtfully, absently summoning them each an inner robe from the sparse wardrobe the goblins had provided. They looked at him curiously as they put on the robes, waiting for him to explain. "I think that the bond and its restrictions are adapting to our needs or what we believe our needs are, especially since it caused no hindrance during training."

"It was also incomplete," Voldemort pointed out, wandlessly summoning their wands and handing them out along with a quickly summoned three pairs of boots. Harry scowled at the lack of anything under the basic inner robe and softly summoned them each a pair of underwear and pants before tugging his bondmates with him towards the attached bathroom.

"Lets try an experiment. We will wait out here and Harry can use the bathroom first, its large enough to test our theory, at first," Severus suggested, magicking the clothing onto his body and earning an amused face from Voldemort to match Harry's suddenly grumpy one.

"And what exactly is the theory? The bond will adapt to what we need?" Harry drawled, not really paying attention since he was really starting to need the loo.

"Listen and we might not have to tell you twice. Incidentally, yes, we think its adaptive," Voldemort said lightly, ruffling Harry's hair much to his annoyance

"I'll probably be more interested when my bladder is no longer ready to burst," Harry pointed out before shoving them out of the door frame of the bathroom, where they had been standing, so that he could use it. He had no problem using the bathroom or going all the way into the shower which was at least 10 feet from the door, though there were a number of suspicious thumps from outside as he washed and generally got ready for the day.

By the time he was done and they had taken their turns in the restroom Harry was wondering if the night before had been a fluke. The thought was proven to be in error when they gently stopped him at the door out of their room and snogged him silly, somehow managing to leave hickies on his neck when he wasn't looking. The very clear marks of ownership had him both glowering at them and fighting not to blush.

"Bastards," Harry muttered as his smirking bondmates followed him to breakfast.

Harry wasn't surprised to realize his bracelet-blades, Morlan and Weiright, had become natural tattoos when he wasn't looking, it was just one of those days. He _was_ surprised to find a summary of his duties and responsibilities for each Lordship and as Kinshar waiting next to his breakfast plate, courtesy of Griphook. The summary on what was happening outside the bank was equally welcome and very illuminating. It was a pity that Griphook hadn't included the information on what Dumbledore had done to earn the ire of the entire goblin nation. Harry also hadn't specifically asked for the information on Dumbledore and wasn't sure he would have been told. The snickering of the Weasley boys, Hermione's smiling approval, and Ginny's jealous glares at his bondmates were not so welcome. Harry did his best not to blush as he silently cursed all overly possessive Slytherins while he ate.

"Either you stop glaring at our bondmate, Miss. Weasley, or you will wish that you were at the complete mercy of your brothers after destroying the entirety of their prank supplies," Severus said calmly before taking another bite.

Ginny blanched at the thought of the wrath the twins would rain down upon her in such a situation. The gleeful smirk that the twins gave was not reassuring in the slightest but it got their own opinion across. Ron just burst out laughing, knowing full well what Fred and George would do to Ginny if that ever happened.

"That's mean," Harry scolded with a snicker. Severus just shrugged, his eyes glittering in a combination of amusement and possessiveness.

"He just said something before I did and I wouldn't have been so gentle," Voldemort pointed out with a shrug.

"Mr. Potter, you have several visitors. The Minister and a number of Aurors are here to see you," a very young goblin came up and told him before dashing away on some other errand.

"I wonder how they found out about you being here. The goblins would never say anything, not after they offered sanctuary," Ron commented thoughtfully before taking another bite of his porridge.

"Its not like we said where we were going in front of Mum and Dad. Oh, wait, we did," Ginny said sarcastically, glaring at her clueless brother.

"Might as well see them," Harry said in resignation and made to get up from the table only for Severus to press him back into his chair.

"You are thin enough as it is and I may need to put you on a potion regime. You will finish your breakfast, the fools can wait," Severus growled, his glare challenging any of them to contradict him.

Ron snorted in amusement and took another serving of food, while everyone else just looked amused at Harry's plight. Seeing that he would get no support on this matter from anyone Harry turned back to his still mostly full plate and forced himself to eat. He only managed 3/4ths of it before being forced to put down his fork and stare at his plate like a chastised child.

"If you can't eat more than that its fine but it means that you badly need a nutritional potion," Severus said softly. Harry nodded mutely before yelping and jumping a bit at the feelings of warmth, concern, and caring that came from both his bondmates for a moment before disappearing once more.

"Sometimes I think you are too good at that mask of yours," Voldemort said with a disappointed sigh aimed at Severus.

"It kept us all safe," Severus returned the volley.

Voldemort muttered something about stubborn potions masters but said nothing else as they all finished breakfast. The dark trio made their way to where Harry's visitors were waiting only for wands to be drawn the moment they stepped into the room.

"What is the meaning of this?" Voldemort asked in a low voice of fury, his eyes flashing almost demonically with the ruby coloring. Harry found himself behind Voldemort with Severus just beyond his right shoulder, their wands drawn and aimed at the Aurors.

"Harry Potter you are under arrest under suspicion of being a Dark Lord," Fudge declared pompously. No one expected the low bitter laugh that came from Harry at those words.

"Let me guess Dumbledore has told you I'm going dark and need to be tossed in Azkaban? All I did was stop playing by his puppeteer rules and survive a mess he created on top of the _tests_ he keeps putting me through," Harry informed them with a bitter mockery that sent a sliver of ice down the spines of his bonded. Severus didn't wait, he followed his instinct and wrapped an arm around Harry's waist pulling him gently back against his chest. His ebony wand never wavered as he tried to comfort the smaller wizard.

"He more than did his duty to you lot. He stopped me cold as an infant and as of the night he left Hogwarts I am bound to his word and command," Voldemort snarled at them. The entire ministry group went pale as they realized exactly who he was. "You are lucky he _isn't_ a dark lord or there would have been a bloodbath that night. You would do better to investigate why Dumbledore insists on students returning to abusive households simply so he can use them as weapons. As far as he's concerned we're just weapons that broke our leashes and need to be put down before we cause any trouble in his perfect little kingdom."

" _Voldemort_ ," Harry snapped in a sharp warning. Voldemort snarled at them again and backed up, closer to Harry's side, showing them all who he now answered to. "I suggest you get the memories of my home life from my relatives and investigate exactly how many students have either been put in danger or harmed while Dumbledore is in control of Hogwarts. I had to kill a thousand year old Basilisk as a twelve year old for gods sake! By Hand! Come back when you actually know what the fuck is going on. Voldemort and his people are now mine. Unless you want the war to start again in earnest you'll actually do your fucking jobs."

The goblin guards roughly escorted the group out of the bank, ignoring the shouts of protest and indignation at the manhandling. In the sudden silence of the empty room Harry attempted to relax a bit only to find the adrenaline wouldn't let him.

"Ah, fuck it," Harry swore before dragging Severus into a rough kiss. Voldemort glanced over in time to see a surprised Severus relax into the snog. He quickly slid up behind Harry and started nibbling on the smaller wizard's neck until they finally broke the kiss.

"Our relationship is going to be very strange," Harry muttered into Severus' chest.

"Perhaps but it is something we will do together. You never have to feel alone or unprotected again. You have us," Voldemort said softly. Harry shivered at the breath ghosting along the back of his neck but nodded his agreement. He wasn't alone any more. "You belong to us, with us, and we belong to you. I doubt anything will change that after recent events. I also doubt Severus would have taken the lead last night if you hadn't clearly needed it, usually that's my role."

"He badly needed it. Like me he was clearly stuck in the leadership role and unable to relax even with our attentions," Severus said gruffly. Voldemort just chuckled into Harry's hair and wondered how their relationship would turn out.

"Last night was my first time, as you both probably figured out. I didn't exactly know what I was doing," Harry drawled, amusement clear in his voice.

"Then its a good thing we took charge," Severus purred in his ear, resisting the urge to lick the purple section of skin under Harry's chin that was their bonding mark.

"I feel like I need to assert myself with you but curl into Voldemort's side at the same time. Its confusing," Harry admitted with a deep blush, his pupils going wide as he fought not to moan.

"We'll figure it all out. It probably just means that you feel need to dominate and care for one of us but submit to the other. Nothing to be worried over. Now, what were in those papers? We both saw you sneaking looks at them while you were eating," Voldemort asked curiously as they stood back a bit from one another. Both Slytherins smirked at each other as they realized Harry was breathing hard from their attentions.

"A report on what's been happening outside the bank since its only been a few days outside versus what we lived for the training and all. There was also stuff on what's expected from me as a Lord and as Kinshar," Harry explained as he forcefully brought himself back under control. "There wasn't anything about why the goblins don't like Dumbledore but I honestly forgot to ask. One thing that the papers said is that the three of us are either considered one person or at the very least married. I couldn't tell which so it may be both, either, or neither under the various laws. Most of my duties and responsibilities were exactly what Griphook said they were but some of the ones involving other royalty were... strange. If I am called in as arbiter to a dispute between royalty or kingdoms or people or whatever my judgement is final unless I publicly admit that a mistake was made or I didn't have some of the information. The next time they can ask for appeal is when the next Kinshar shows up. All of it implied that you will both be by my side constantly."

"Good," Severus said, matching Voldemort's satisfied smirk. Neither of them were willing to let him get away now that they had him.

"We aren't very demonstrative with each other in part because we're both normally very solitary and in part because as long as we've been together there was more than a little risk involved," Voldemort decided to explain some of his and Severus' relationship. "By now most of it has become habit so you are likely to be on the receiving end of our suppressed emotional caring, especially after what we saw in the final bonding. None of us had much caring physical contact growing up. So once the three of us are more comfortable with each other and with general touching expect to be cuddled, a lot."

Harry grumbled good naturedly but they could feel him practically glowing at the thought of not having to fear being touched. It was clear to them that Harry wanted the threatened cuddling as much as or perhaps more than they did. They just hadn't been willing to risk it before in case of jealousy in the ranks or if Dumbledore got wind of it. Neither of them had been able to even suggest feigning Severus being forced into Voldemort's bed, despite some of their previous role playing. They both hated the distance that they had been forced to keep but were glad it had gotten them Harry, strange situation and all.

"Suck it up, Potter. You're the perfect size to be cuddled," Severus teased. All of them purposefully ignored the fact that he was so small because he had been repeatedly starved. Not to mention the long term exposure to dangerous cleaning chemicals since a very young age.

"Do you think he'll actually look for the evidence or just declare us all threats to wizarding kind to be kissed on sight by Dementors like he did with Sirius?" Harry asked almost wistfully.

"I don't know but we can have Lucius help steer him in the right direction. I have to inform the others in any case that the bond is permanent. We can tell them about the Kinshar situation at the next general meeting or publish it in the paper. Actually the paper might work better because it will also assure the rest of the wizarding world that we won't be going on raids or rampages. My entire system provides you with a small ready made army perfectly scattered throughout British wizarding society. Though, I may need to kill some of them for either disloyalty or actions I know you would never condone. For that matter, now that I'm sane again, _I_ don't condone them and they make me sick," Voldemort said thoughtfully, looking distinctly ill by the last train of thought.

"Lets talk with Griphook and Hermione. They might have some ideas," Harry said with a snort as he led them back into the hallway.


	9. Married?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! This has been sitting on my laptop for a while and I only just remembered to check it! Don't kill me?  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They found Hermione and Griphook discussing something over tea. Unfortunately, the two immediately clamped up when the dark trio arrived. So while his two Slytherins glared at their targets suspiciously Harry just quirked his eyebrow in amusement, figuring they had been discussing him.

"And what exactly are you hiding from me?" Harry teased, pulling his bonded along behind him and making them sit next to him on a quickly conjured couch.

"We're not hiding it so much as trying to evaluate whether to ignore it or not," Hermione said carefully. "It hasn't been long, thanks to the time room, but it could be something we need to watch."

"Alright, make sure to discuss it with Ron and the twins if you don't want to tell me," Harry said affably. "Incidentally I just told Fudge and his pet Aurors to fuck off."

The way the two of them froze at his words sent a deep satisfaction coiling in Harry's belly. The amusement was echoing strongly enough from his bondmates that it mixed with his own and amplified it to the point he had trouble not laughing.

"That was mean," Severus said softly, slipping up behind Harry close enough to touch but not quite there yet. Voldemort's deep chuckle of amusement just added something to the snarky wizard's smug comment.

They quickly led Harry away, back towards their room. Harry didn't object but did look at them both curiously. The moment the door to their room was shut they faced him. Severus locked eyes with him before slowly kneeling and bowing his head in submission. Voldemort, on the other hand smirked at him, standing strong and proud as they waited for Harry to make his own move.

"Explain," Harry ordered softly.

"Severus likes giving up control and enjoys a little bit of pain and roughness. I don't like how he gained that preference but I can't deny enjoying it once I found out about it. I, on the other hand, prefer to take charge. I had little control when I was younger and can not feel properly safe or satisfied unless I have most of the control in bed. We both belong to you and will follow any orders you give us but we are not bound to the exact wording. This is probably to give us the most flexibility in protecting you," Voldemort explained. "You're clearly stressed. Either let us help you relax or use us as you see fit."

"I will not abuse you," Harry said, his voice going hard.

"We're not asking that. We're asking that you take comfort from us when, where, and how you need it," Severus said softly, raising his head just enough to once more meet Harry's gaze.

"If I decided I wanted to pin you to the floor and fuck you raw?" Harry said harshly, challenging his bondmate to reject the possibility. What he wasn't expecting was for Severus' breathing to increase in obvious arousal.

"We are yours to do with as you will," Severus breathed, not even bothering to hide his reaction.

Harry's control snapped. He quickly stalked over and dragged Severus awkwardly to his feet before dominating him with an all consuming kiss. Voldemort stood passively to the side, waiting for his invitation while enjoying the show. Frustrated, Harry snagged his arm and drew them both over to the bed before pushing them onto it.

"Stop holding back! If you are going to be my bondmates you will act like it!" Harry snarled at them, his carefully hidden stress from the earlier confrontation finally making an appearance. Taking that as permission both men pulled him onto the bed and kissed him, offering comfort in their touches but taking it no further than that. The trio eventually found themselves simply cuddled together in bed.

"I take it that you don't mind showing this in public?" Harry finally asked the air as they lay together.

"I don't mind. It will be refreshing," Voldemort said with a chuckle.

"It will be a welcome change not to have to hide it from one and all," Severus agreed. "Remember we didn't get the chance to be affectionate, not before we had you."

"Alright, if I'm going to do this then both of you will take comfort from me and each other as needed. We are _equal_ in this," Harry told them forcefully.

"Perfect," Voldemort purred as he nuzzled into the crook of Harry's neck, drawing an involuntary moan out of his bondmate. A discrete knock on their door forced them to rejoin the rest of the world. They were quickly led to a meeting room where they found the officers of the DA along with Griphook waiting for them.

"We've narrowed it down to a few properties, some one of us already owns and some we would need to purchase," Hermione said, getting into the important things almost the moment they sat down. "The minister is going to be a problem but we can counter him early by releasing a statement now. It would be a good idea to have the DA members inform their families and get permission. Even if we managed to get most of them either declared emancipated or placed under one of us as magical guardian it will go over better with actual permission from their parents. Everyone over 17 wants their names listed in the paper beside yours so that no one can accuse them of not picking a side when it all comes out. It would be up to you and your bondmates to decide if we announce the bond."

"I have to tell you mate, I think announcing it is a good idea. If we word it right it will tell the public that the raids have stopped, or at least aren't our fault or your Dark Lord's fault. It will also show that people have been screwing up big time and that the prophecy you told us about isn't a factor any more. If they bring it out in the open we can counter with the fact that it could be considered complete the night your parents died, depending on how you classify death and defeat," Ron pointed out obviously still mentally plotting the moves and counter moves of what was likely to come.

"It would help if we knew the actual wording," Voldemort grumbled as he scribbled out a few messages that would be sent via Gringotts owl.

"Yeah, but unless we can get into the ministry or Gringotts have a copy we'll have to keep dealing with everything blind. Not that a prophecy is a certainty but at least we would know what the other side was trying to force," Ron agreed with a grimace. He never really liked Divination. The class had simply been an easy pass for him and a way to spend more time with Harry.

"I want the ones under 17 when we got here to get permission from their parents. If they say no then they can be the ones to keep an eye on everyone at Hogwarts and sabotage the goat as needed using pranks and the like. Remind everyone that once they've taken their OWLs they can leave the school without their wands being snapped and legally aren't forced to continue their education. At that point I can try to hire tutors and stuff for them. Anyone 17 or officially emancipated can legally do whatever the hell they like. I am willing to set this up as a low paying job with room and board or some sort of informal apprenticeship thing to help prove employment for the emancipation," Harry explained, thinking aloud as he went along, occasionally reiterating something as he went through what was needed. "As for the paper, alright you can issue a statement. Make it very clear that we believed our lives at risk and that if we did stay someone was either going to hurt us or enslave us. Feel free to cite previous incidents like the stone, the chamber, and everything else we've had to deal with at Hogwarts, that should get us some sympathy. Offer to let the muggle parents visit any who don't decide to go home or back and send a full explanation home with any requests for permission, and/or emancipation/guardianship. I want them to understand that we can't just walk away from what happened and that we didn't start this."

"We'll bloody well finish it though," Ron agreed with a smirk that was shared by most of the room.

Severus had listened with half an ear while going over the properties that Hermione had almost immediately handed over. Anything without an appropriate potions area was immediately discarded as were any properties that had connections to the Order or the Death Eaters. The few that remained mostly consisted of ones from Harry's inheritance of both the Black and Potter Lordships. A quiet word with Griphook told him that all of them had been checked for safety and those that hadn't passed inspection had been removed and the files corrected. The best bet was looking more and more like Potter Manor.

"Severus?" Voldemort asked, noting the man's sour look as he stared down at the pile of folders.

"The best one is going to be Potter Manor," Severus said with more than a touch of bitterness in his voice. "We can convert many of the rooms as needed or double up on room assignments. It contains a dedicated dueling room, a nearly state of the art potions lab, a dinning room, a ballroom, a rather large family library, a set of dungeons, nearly twenty rooms for the family level and just as many on the guest level. There are also sufficiently modern bathrooms every couple of rooms along with multiple sitting rooms on each level for conversation and a study on each floor. The lab would take little to update it and the stable along with the rather extravagant grounds complete with greenhouses would be just as useful."

"Hey, it's alright. Just think of how much _James_ would hate the fact that you now own part of it," Harry offered consolingly. Severus gave a small smile at that thought and went back to looking over the file with a new eye to the details. Voldemort nodded his head approvingly over how their lion had handled Severus' jealousy.

"Mate, what are you talking about?" Ron asked with narrowed eyes.

"As my bonded grounds under various laws the three of us are considered one person, married, and/or a few other things I didn't recognize or understand. So, yeah, they effectively share everything with me. Which is only fair since as my grounds anything they owned before is now mine, including the Death Eaters," Harry admitted, unconsciously reaching for his two grounds for reassurance which they freely gave by wrapping an arm around him from either side. Thankfully, the chairs they were using at the moment didn't have armrests to dig into their sides.

The quickly exchanged glance between his friends was not lost on him. He wondered if he could get Hermione focused on the legalities over their new abilities. With the way her eyes were narrowed in thought he believed it might be possible. The re-appearance of Mad Scientist Hermione was something to be greatly feared and quickly escaped from.

"What are the three of you specifically under wizarding and goblin law?" Hermione asked thoughtfully.

"Aside from special arbitrators that can over rule the ruling of every court including the Wizengamot when called upon? I think we're considered both one person and married under wizarding law. It depends on if we're being spoken to individually, jointly, or in an official capacity. The papers didn't say anything about under goblin law except that we qualify as a special exemption. Under wizard law if we're being talked to as just another person we're married, when spoken to under our official capacity we're always considered one person, and when spoken to jointly... that one's kinda weird but generally seems to fall under married. I have no idea about any of us taking on lovers or other partners or if it's even possible with the bond we share," Harry explained bluntly.

"You'd better not," Severus muttered under his breath as Voldemort growled low in agreement. Both of them took on an even firmer grip, unwilling to give him up for even a little bit. Harry didn't seem to mind. In fact Hermione could swear he leaned into their touch.

"We want to avoid mentioning the specifics of Fudge's visit just now unless he does something stupid. We can still use part of the statement to both make him look good and make it harder for him to arrest any of us. All we have to do is add on to the end that Minister Fudge has already visited us in regards to leaving the school. The fact he wouldn't or couldn't force us back immediately makes it look like we have a valid reason, which we do. It will also badly hurt his image if he tries to forcibly remove us from Gringotts, completely aside from the damage it would do to wizard-goblin relations which I don't think he actually cares about," Hermione pointed out thoughtfully, making Griphook grin nastily at the thought.

"Yes, lets try to avoid another goblin war," Severus drawled.

"You don't count as wizards under goblin law. The Kinshar and his people are separate," Griphook reminded them evilly. It was clear he was looking forwards to any idiotic attempts to remove them from goblin territory.

"Is there anything else that's urgent? Anything that has to be dealt with before moving to Potter Manor?" Harry asked, smiling slightly at the antics of both Griphook and his surly bonded.

"Gringotts would like to request a mediation between two craftmasters currently in disagreement," Griphook said carefully. "The gratuity would be... substantial."

"Alright, give us a moment and we'll listen to the case," Harry agreed after a little thought and a slight nod from his two grounds and husbands.

"Excellent!" Griphook said with great pleasure. "We can discuss any compensation after you've judged the case to avoid... the appearance of favoritism."

"Lead the way," Harry said agreeably. Griphook quickly obeyed.


End file.
